In the Face of Adversity
by Sapphyre7
Summary: Sebastian and Jace are best friends at Galaxtian High, and nothing can come between them. That is until a new student starts that year. Clary is dealing with a tragedy that very few people know about. Add starting a new school and boys being boys into that mix. When she comes out of the storm, she won't be the same person who walked in. Hell, she'll be the storm.
1. Chapter 1: The Accident

**Hello again. How funny we should meet again like this! Here's another new story for you to sink your teeth into. I really hope you like all of these stories and as I've said just because I'm writing this one also, doesn't mean I won't be updating Haus of Malec or Perfection Incarnate – all will be receiving equal attention! Please feel free to review.**

We were silent the entire trip back. My mum's eyes were focussed on the road, her hands glued to the steering wheel only moving every so often to wipe a stray tear away. I watched the countryside sprawling past, trying not to get too far into my own head. I didn't want to think about it, I didn't want to deal with it. Jon was sat silent in the passenger seat, flinching every time another car drove past us. Soon the countryside passed and suddenly it was all buildings, people everywhere. Jon pulled his cap down over his eyes, whether to hide his apparent embarrassment or to shed a few tears himself I wasn't sure. I wound my window down to get some fresh air, the space suddenly feeling like it was closing in. People talking, footsteps falling and phones ringing…

 _The phone was ringing but no one was answering. Mum was sitting in the chair, her cup of coffee smashed in front of her on the floor. The phone rang out, Mum unflinching. I asked what was wrong and it was as though she couldn't hear it. And the phone was ringing again. I asked her again but she didn't respond. I went to answer the phone but she grabbed my arm, holding me back. And then we were hugging, she was crying and I was so confused but I knew something was wrong. Deep down I knew something was wrong. It took a while before she could form the words to tell me. It took even longer to process them. Dad was what? He couldn't be. I'd only seen him three weeks ago._

As soon as we got the news we started making plans to be with Jon. Dad and Jon had been in a car crash as Dad was taking Jon to a football meet. Some drunk driver. Mum and Dad had been separated for the last 8 years. Jon lived with Dad and me with Mum but we made sure to reconnect any chance we had. I loved my Dad, I just got on easier with my Mum. And now he was gone and I felt so guilty for not choosing him. Jon had escaped the crash but his legs had been nigh on crushed. Mum was going to have to tutor him from home until he was prepared to go back to school. I had been nervous to see him afterwards, I didn't know what I would say to him. What do you say to someone after they've experienced that? Sorry hardly seems to suffice. Sorry that you had to watch Dad die. Sorry you, a football player, won't be able to even use your legs for countless weeks. Sorry that I wasn't there. It had all become a reality when the hospital staff had wheeled Jon out to the car, lifted him from his chair into the front seat and he hadn't uttered a word since. It became even more real when Mum stopped the car outside of Dad's house and nobody appeared to greet us. When Jon reached for the car door and went to step out, his legs disobeying him. Mum was quick to react hopping out of the car herself, retrieving the wheelchair from the boot and placing it next to where Jon was sat. Climbing out of the car, I felt awkward. Jon probably didn't want my help but I was going to offer it anyway. Mum was trying to help him best she could, like you would try and lift a baby. Placing myself on Jon's other side, I allowed him to levy his upper-body weight against me so that he could help himself into the chair, using the car as support. Mum made sure his legs were in right before heading up to the house to open it. I went to follow her, but Jon's hand grabbed my wrist stopping me.

"Clary." I turned to face him and realised immediately that he couldn't just follow after us. The house was on an incline and it would have been near impossible for him to wheel himself up there without potentially causing further injury to himself. Placing myself behind him, I pushed him towards the house. "Can we talk?" Jon muttered just before we reached the threshold.

"Sure."

"Privately." Jon asked, looking into the house. I wheeled him around the side of the house and out of earshot. "How is she?"

"She's been making herself busy planning the funeral and getting your room ready. She hasn't spoken much. I think she's glad to have you home." My voice felt shaky coming out, I hadn't used it much over the last few weeks.

"I just wish I could have brought him home with me." Jon commented and I bowed my head.

"Me too." We were silent for a while. "How are you feeling?"

"Not fantastic. School starts in a couple of days, I think it's going to be harder then. How are you feeling?"

"Not good." I shook my head, tears spilling. I couldn't shake this overwhelming guilt. "I feel guilty." I admitted, looking out at the garden. The swing that Dad had constructed just for me so that I didn't get too jealous when Jon got his Jungle Jim for Christmas, the fruit trees we had planted at the back and the rabbit hutch where I'd once kept a wild rabbit we came across in the garden when I'd come to stay.

"Guilty?" Jon repeated, grabbing my arm and pulling me out of my daydream. "You couldn't have predicted this Clary, none of us could. I'd fought with him just before we'd left the house. But he loved us Clary and we loved him. That's what we have to remember." He held my hand and steadied me.

"I'm so sorry Jon." I cried, wrapping my arms around him and hugging him tightly. He held my back firmly, his chin resting on my shoulder. I don't know how long we stayed like that, but when we pulled apart I felt a little bit better.

"We'll get through this." Jon reassured. "Together."

Mum had Jon's room ready by the time we got around to the door. Over the last few weeks we'd been moving all of his things into the living room so that he had easier access. By chance, this house happened to have a downstairs toilet which made things a little bit easier. Dinner that night passed by in silence. It was weird to have not heard my mum's voice in so long, I hadn't even seen her cry properly in about a week. We all went to bed early, to escape the silence and to escape our own thoughts. I lay there looking at the minutes tick by on my alarm clock, until I heard my door shimmy open. I closed my eyes instantly, pretending to be asleep. Soft footsteps padded towards my bed, pulling the sheets back. The bed sagged lightly under the extra weight as my mum shuffled in behind me, her arms wrapping around my waist, her face nuzzling into my hair. I held my breath and held my tears back.

"Let them out baby. Just let them out." My mum soothed against my hair. And just from hearing her voice I did. We both did.

The next day I felt a little bit better. Mum went into Jon's room and was in there for about an hour before they both emerged after what I assumed was having a good talk and cry. Jon wanted to dive straight into help mum with the funeral plans which was exactly what I didn't want to do. I went back upstairs and started unpacking. I was dreading going to school. I knew a few people but I hadn't spoken to them in forever, which is kind of what happens when you're 9 and move away,

On the day's leading up to school starting, there were so many knocks at the door. People asking if we were alright, people dropping off an assortment of cakes, stews and traybakes. The most surprising knock came the day before school was supposed to go back. I hopped down the stairs to answer it as Jon and Mum were at the hospital. Opening the door, a tall slim boy stood in front of me, He looked oddly familiar.

"Hey Clary? My mum sent me over with this." He gestured to a tray of brownies. "How are you all feeling? That's a little bit of a stupid question really isn't it? I've never really understood that question. Or why people feel the need to bake people things when they lose someone. Like hey, I know what'll help fill that hole – food. Crap – sorry, I didn't mean to –"He was cut off when I just started laughing. I don't know what it was, maybe the comment about the baking things or maybe it was just built up tension. But I couldn't stop. And in my laughter, I remembered him.

"Simon, right?" I asked. He nodded, and I asked him to come in. It had been at least a few years since Simon and I had last met but we had been best friends when we were children. Once we were sat at the table, Simon seemed to want to talk about anything but the accident which I was thankful for.

"I'm assuming you'll be going to Galaxtian High? Or are you going back?" Simon asked.

"Yeah, I'll be going to school here. Mum has to stay and look after Jon."

"How is Jon?"

"Not good. He's not enjoying the wheelchair, which is understandable." Simon looked shocked.

"He's in a wheelchair?"

"Uh – not permanently. Please don't tell anyone I told you that." I backtracked, feeling terrible for potentially betraying his trust.

"I won't, I swear. But won't people ask you questions when they hear your surname? 'Morgenstern' isn't really that common." Simon commented. Hearing that made me feel terrible all over again. I'd changed my name when I'd moved to live with my mum, yet another slight against my Dad. I tried to channel Jon in my head. Hopefully he hadn't seen it like that.

"I've got my mum's name. So hopefully people won't ask. I don't think I'm ready to talk about it at length."

"Well, if you ever need anyone to talk to or someone to sit for lunch with, I'm here." Simon smiled. Before he left, he left me his phone number. I sat in the kitchen, once he had gone, with the brownies and ate quite a few of them, whilst crying. Jon and Mum must have come back around brownie number 4 or 5. Jon tried his best to come around and comfort me but he was still having issues with the chair and what he could wedge it between. After shoving a few chairs out of the way and muttering a few expletives, he got around to me and hugged my head to his chest.

"We're ordering pizza and having a movie night." Jon decided, Mum looked unsure as though she knew something that I didn't but allowed Jon to take control. Once the pizza's had arrived, we all got comfortable in Jon's room. Jon directed Mum towards the cabinet underneath his television, where boxes and boxes of dvds were stashed. Mum popped one into the player and my heart jumped into my throat when Dad's face burst forth onto the screen. Home videos. Who knew?

We sat in Jon's room for most of the night, watching home videos from when we'd went on holiday to when we'd went to the zoo, playing around in the garden and Jon's first football game. I felt better knowing that we had them as though I was worried I would forget about Dad. What he looked like, what he spoke like, how he walked. I managed to sleep that night for the first time in god knows how long. I slept so long, I nearly slept in for school the next day.

 **Thank you for reading my stories! Feel free to review and let me know what you think! All of my love, until the next time. ~Sapph**


	2. Chapter 2: The First Day

**I would just like to thank everyone for their support! I really do appreciate it. On with the story! To answer a question in a review, I do expect this to turn into Clace, but it may be quite a slow burner!**

As soon as I woke up, I was behind myself. Not the best of starts for an already stressful day. Jon was waiting in the kitchen, dressed in a pair of sweats and a tank top, when I got downstairs to scoff my breakfast. He was full of advice – who to avoid, things to watch out for. I wasn't sure if everything he was saying was true but I absorbed it all the same.

"Right Clary, let's get you to school – you want to come, Jon?" My mum had entered the room, wearing a zipped up coat over the top of her pyjamas. Jon looked downcast, shaking his head.

"Maybe next time." I smiled, squeezing his shoulder reassuringly. Jon smiled, appreciatively. Mum asked me twenty questions in the car, about myself, about Jon, about the funeral. I managed to shrug her off with vague answers the entire way. The school was ridiculously large and old-looking. I'd thought in my head that maybe I would recognise it vaguely but it looked completely foreign to me. The floods of students surging towards the building were quite intimidating. I could already hear Jon's words resounding in my ears at the sight of letterman jackets and cheerleading costumes. I wasn't sure what Jon was worried about. I was probably the most uncoordinated person to ever step foot onto this school's soil. There was zero possibility that I was going to be trying out for cheer and if this school was anything like my previous one, if you weren't involved with the team, you didn't exist. That was just the way I liked it. I was more worried about people talking about the crash. Somehow I didn't think I was ready to have those conversations.

I headed straight for the reception to register myself and was momentarily distracted by the flyer for football tryouts attached to the wall. Luckily for me, the woman at the reception desk was very attentive and quite lovely. She showed me to my form room and helped me out with a few basic directions, before leaving me on my own again. The classroom was large and more importantly empty. 2-seater desks were scattered around, all facing a white-board at the front of the room. A white-board that had 'Ice-Breakers!" written upon it. _Fabulous._ According to Jon earlier, the forms had undergone a shuffling so I wasn't surprised about the ice-breakers on the first day. What did surprise me was that they had mixed junior and senior forms together. I stood at the front, waiting for more people to enter. Everyone seemed to be coming in in pairs. I was quite relieved to see Simon come into the room a short while later, on his own. He slid in next to me at the far-side of the room.

"Everything okay?" He asked and I nodded in response. A few football players and cheerleaders were the last into the room circulating amongst themselves, unsurprisingly. Our form tutor was right behind them. She was a stout little woman with large vibrant glasses and curly hair. She looked like a drama teacher of some sort, her every move exaggerated.

"Ice breakers everyone!" She was gesturing for people to sit down but the football group were ignoring her, laughing amongst themselves. She moved herself over to the football players. "This will never do." She tittered, most of them still ignoring her. "Seating plan!" She sang and everyone in the room, but me, unanimously groaned. She started off by seating the football players and cheerleaders individually at desks, so that not one of them was sat next to one another. She then started filling in the gaps with the rest of us. I kissed away my slim chance of sitting with Simon. I ended up sitting next to a boy in a letterman jacket. His hair was dark and tousled, his stance casual. He seemed unfazed by the seating plan as he was talking to a blonde-haired guy who was sat in front of him, leaning back. The pair of them eyed me suspiciously as I took my seat.

"All right Red." The blonde smirked as though he'd cracked a funny joke. I put my bag under the desk, waiting for further instruction about these ice-breakers, resisting the urge to make a blonde joke. Unfortunately for me, the first one included talking amongst our group of four, each of us had to tell three statements and one of them had to be a lie. I didn't even know what I was going to say. Anything I could think of kept flashing back to what was going on at home.

"I'll start us off!" The peppy girl next to the blonde-haired guy smiled. "Let me see…" She tapped her chin with her pencil.

"For god's sake Lily." Blonde-guy moaned.

"1 – I have a 4.0 GPA. 2 – I looooooove football. 3 – My favourite subject is … math! GO!" She laughed, obnoxiously.

"I thought this was meant to be difficult or at the very least insightful…" The blonde trailed off.

"2." The dark haired guy laughed. "My turn. 1 – I'm having a party this weekend. 2 – You're all invited. 3 – To celebrate me finally and deservedly getting quarterback."

"Definitely 3, right Seb?" The blonde laughed.

"Not quite Jace – 2." Sebastian smiled. "You're not invited." He gestured to Lily who pulled a 'Do I care?' face in response.

"You're not going to be quarterback – let's be honest."

"I've got more chance than you have." Sebastian ran his hands through his hair. This was uncomfortable to listen to. Jon had played quarterback and from what I'd heard, he'd been a pretty decent one. Now here they were, arguing over his spot.

"Everyone knows Jon will get quarterback again." Lily put in her two cents. Sebastian scoffed.

"Keep up – do you see Jon anywhere? He's probably still messed up from the crash – poor bloke."

"Pretty nasty one from what I've heard." I couldn't bite my tongue any longer.

"If football teams are meant to be close, why haven't any of you been to see him?" I piped up.

"How do you know we haven't?" Sebastian queried.

"It's obvious you're both speculating. So I'm guessing you haven't actually seen him." I shrugged.

"Very clever." Jace commented. "He doesn't want to see us. He doesn't want to see anybody. So as the good friends we are, we're going to honour his wishes. Anyway, it's your turn."

"Uh-"I muttered. "1 – I want to be an artist. 2 – I've lived in Arizona the last few years. 3 – I dye my hair." I stumbled through. They all looked at me before each deciding on a different number.

"You're correct." I gestured to Lily who had said 3. She celebrated with a fist pump before launching into another 3 about herself. I didn't see the point in this game. It wasn't breaking any ice – it was just making me want to go home. The tutor must have read my mind as she changed the activity to making our own personal flags that consisted of symbols that we associated with ourselves. Thank you Jesus. Something I could do without having to talk to anyone. Jace set about to get some pencils, but I'd brought my own so I got straight down to it.

"I don't think I caught your name." Sebastian smiled, a little closer into my personal space than I would have liked.

"You never asked." I muttered, drawing a rectangle.

"I'm asking now."

"Clary Fray." I answered simply.

"That's an unusual name."

"I suppose so." How do you respond to a comment like that?

"You don't have much to say do you? Are you new this year?"

"Yeah. Used to live here when I was little, moved away, and came back." I replied, focussing on sketching.

"I might have known you from when I was younger then?"

"I doubt it." I smiled, starting to pen in some symbols.

I was so glad when lunchtime rolled around just to escape Sebastian's constant questioning. I spent the first part of lunch hunting out my locker and wondering if I could somehow escape home before we had to do these 'outside' activities.

 **Sebastian's POV**

There was a certain mystery about her. Something that I couldn't quite put my finger on.

"I wonder if she's going to come on Saturday." I mused, walking alongside Jace.

"Who?" He said confused, climbing up onto one of the benches outside, lunch in hand.

"That girl from form, Clary I think she said her name was."

"Did you specifically invite her? Or are you classing you telling just Lily that she wasn't invited as her invitation?" Jace raised an eyebrow, picking at his sandwich.

"Well when you say it like that– crap." I muttered.

"Just ask her once we go back to form." Jace suggested.

"We're doing outside ice-breakers aren't we? Hopefully I can catch her by herself."

"She doesn't strike me as the type to have loads of friends. Didn't you say she was new? Chances are she'll be by herself." Jace smirked.

 **Clary's POV**

Simon had clearly managed to perfectly execute my idea, as he was nowhere to be seen after lunch hour. Shame he hadn't taken me with him. I kept to the outskirts of the group, hoping that I would just be ignored in the excitement of whatever sort of sports they were arranging here.

"You alright there, Clary?" Sebastian appeared at my side, hands stuffed into his jacket pockets.

"Fine thanks, just trying to blend in."

"Speaking of blending in, did you catch my invite earlier?"

"Invite?" I repeated, watching what was going on in front of me.

"Yeah, to my party this weekend. Feel free to bring a friend."

"Oh, thanks. I'll think about it."

I wasn't going to go. What would I even do at a party like that? I'd stick out like a sore thumb. Mum picked me up once school was over, but Jon was nowhere to be seen. He called me into his room when I got back.

"How did your first day go then Porgy?" I rolled my eyes at him. He knew I hated being called Porgy but once he'd discovered it, it had stuck – Person of Restricted Growth.

"I'll let you get away with that, just this once." I laughed, sitting myself down next to him on the bed.

"So, you were just telling me about your first day…" He trailed off.

"It was pretty lacklustre. I was sat next to a couple of people you probably know, they were talking about you so." I filled him in.

"Oh?"

"Sebastian and what was the other one called – Jace?" Jon nodded along.

"They're both pretty sweet guys." Jon started off before his face turned grim. "You didn't tell them about m-"

"No." I shook my head. "I haven't even mentioned that we're related." I was just about to get embarrassed until Jon seemed happier.

"Good. It's not like they need to know is it? You just sit with them in form class."

"Well Sebastian invited me to a party this weekend, I said I would think about it but I don't think I want to go."

"I think you should go."

"What? Why?" I said confused.

"It would be good for you to get out. It would make me quite happy if you went." Jon admitted. I looked at him frowning.

"Jon…"

"Please." He said simply and I couldn't deny him. Oddly, I felt like I owed him and if it would make him feel better me going to one silly little party then that's what I was going to do.

"Fiine!" I moaned, overdramatically. "You owe me though." I shoved his shoulder and he bounced back. "I'm going to go and scavenge the cupboards and look for something for dinner. Do you want something?" I asked, getting to my feet.

"Help me up and I'll come with you. I don't trust you to make something by yourself."

"Hey! Less of the cheek you!"

 **Thank you for reading my stories, I really do appreciate it. Reviews make me happy!**

 **All of my love, until the next time ~Sapph**


	3. Chapter 3: The Party

**Thank you everyone who reads my story! I really do appreciate all of the feedback**

Over the next few school days, I spent most of my time with Simon. It was comforting being around someone who had a sense of humour like his, especially when he was 100% aware of my situation at home. Luckily for me, he had agreed to come to Sebastian's party with me at the weekend. Sebastian had caught me in form on Friday morning specifically to give me his address for the party.

Saturday rolled around quickly and I still wasn't sure what I was going to wear. I didn't even know the dress code. I'd invited Simon around early so that he could help me pick something out. He knocked at my door exactly when he was supposed to be there. I let him in and ushered him up into my room.

"I have absolutely no clue what I'm supposed to wear." I groaned. _Why had I even agreed to go?_ I looked Simon over, he was dressed very casually in a pair of jeans and a baggy t-shirt.

"Well, what were you thinking?" Simon asked. I showed him the two outfits that I was stuck between. The first was a jumper and a pair of leather leggings. The second a pair of ripped jeans and a baggy vest top. Simon threw the jumper away before throwing the jeans away. Pairing the leather leggings and baggy vest top together.

"Do you not think it's too much?" Simon almost burst out laughing.

"Clary. Wait until we get there. You'll think you're dressed for church the way some of them dress." He shook his head. I headed into the bathroom, getting changed as quickly as I could. I emerged from the bathroom, hands in my hair.

"Up or down?" I asked, standing in front of the mirror.

"Down." Simon said as though the choice was obvious. I shrugged, fluffing it out over my shoulders. A few touches of make-up later and a pair of heeled boots and I was ready to go.

When we arrived, there were people spread out all over the lawn. The party already seemed to be in full swing. I cast a sideways glance at Simon who just looked at me as though it was a normal thing. As we were heading up into the house, I was adamant I saw Lily sneak past. It reignited a thought in my head.

"Did Sebastian get Quarterback then?" I questioned Simon as though he would know more about it than I would. He shrugged.

"Beats me."

If it seemed busy outside of the house, the inside was something else unto itself. People were rammed into every room. Beanbags were dotted around all over the house, making me seriously question the sanity of Sebastian's parents.

"Let me get you a drink!" Simon shouted over the noise, weaving through the crowd after leaving me next to a very decorative plant as a marker. I recognised a few people but only from passing. I had zero clue what their names were. Jace, the boy from my form class, was sitting on a beanbag with a girl on either of his knees, vastly enjoying himself. Simon was right about the outfits. A lot of the girls here were wearing short dresses that barely covered their modesty. My leather leggings suddenly seeming like a fantastic idea. I felt a tap on my shoulder and span expecting to see Simon stood in front of me. Instead a large man swam into view, he was wearing a letterman jacket and I immediately went to turn around, assuming he'd spoken to the wrong person.

"Hey, little lady!" He shouted in my ear, making me turn back to face him. I looked at him with my eyebrows raised.

"Hi?" I said confused. I couldn't tell if he was drunk or just naturally a really touchy person but he was making me seriously uncomfortable. _Where the hell was Simon with these drinks?_

"Let me get you a drink." He smirked, giving his friend who was stood next to the bannister a 'sly' nod.

"No thank you." I smiled politely. I'd seen way too many episodes of Law and Order: SVU to buy into this bullshit. As I went to turn around set on finding Simon, his hand sprang back to my shoulder easily enveloping it and spinning me around to face him. His smirk was gone, his brow frowning.

"I said, let's get you a drink."

"And I said, no thank you." I reiterated. He went to grab me again but I felt his hand pulled from my shoulder from someone else. I was surprised to see Jace stood there, holding his hand away from my shoulder.

"Come on bud leave it. You're not getting anywhere with this one." Jace smirked at him before pointing out some cheerleaders who were giggling and waving in his direction. I watched the large guy wander over to them and easily win them over with his suspicious drinks. "I think the words you are looking for are – you're welcome." Jace smiled at me before sauntering back over to his beanbag where he was approached by two different girls. I shook my head before making a beeline for the kitchen to find Simon. Once I got there, he was nowhere to be seen. _Where the hell had he went for these drinks? The store?_ I set about making myself a drink. I had zero clue what I was doing, mixing a couple of spirits and then pouring some soft drink on the top of it. _Meh, it would do._ I took a hearty sip before pulling my face. _Why did people like drinking? It tasted vile!_

"You may want to watch yourself with those." An artsy looking guy pointed out as he leaned against the kitchen counter.

"With what?" I asked, braving another sip.

"Mixing your spirits. I'd go steady if I was you especially in this crowd." He smiled at me, taking a sip of his own drink.

"What are you drinking?" I asked, hoping that whatever he had to offer would taste better than the concoction that I'd created.

"Whiskey." He gestured to a hip flask inside his pocket. "Want some?"

"Will it taste better than this?"

"More than likely." He laughed, grabbing me a cup and pouring me out what I assumed was a better measure. He topped it off with lemonade before passing it to me. I took a tentative sip. "Don't worry, I'm not going to drug you." He laughed. I smiled, blushing a little across my cheeks. He was right, it did taste better.

"I'm Clary by the way." I smiled, feeling the need to introduce myself.

"I'm Jordan." He reached over to shake my hand. "I like your leggings by the way. Leather is a hard one to pull off." He smirked.

"Thanks." I laughed, sipping at my drink. "Nice dreadlocks, I'd imagine they're also quite hard to pull off." I commented. "In both senses." I added. He just laughed at me, shaking his head. "How did you get invited to this party by the way? Somehow it doesn't seem like your scene." I had to ask.

"I could say the same." He smiled, looking me up and down. "Sebastian and I go way back. Now, how did you end up getting invited? Or are you crashing?"

"Sebastian invited me. In form class." I said simply, finishing off my glass. I started rooting around the kitchen looking for other spirits that looked like they might be decent. I didn't dare tell anyone that this was my first ever time drinking. _Ever._ I picked up a few bottles analysing them.

"Are you actually going to try anything or just inspect it?" Jordan teased, swigging directly from his flask. I shot him a look before picking up the most interesting looking bottle. I poured what I assumed was a measure into my cup before filling it with lemonade before sipping it. It wasn't half bad! "I'm sure I already told you not to mix your spirits…" Jordan laughed. I looked worryingly into the cup.

"I thought you meant in the same cup…" I said dismayed. Jordan burst out laughing.

"You're not going to die Clary. Chill. It just means you might end up quite drunk." I nodded in understanding before sipping my drink once more.

"Do you play football?" I asked intrigued, trying to sip slower. Jordan shook his head.

"No. I'm too laidback for that. You should have seen the guys earlier. Nearly in tears because their coach hasn't decided who's playing Quarterback yet."

"I wonder if the coach is waiting for Jon to come back." I said out loud, kicking myself. Jordan looked at me surprised.

"You know Jon?"

"A girl in form was talking about him yesterday. I'm assuming he used to be Quarterback." I tried to blag my way out of it. Jordan looked appeased.

"He's a really great guy actually. No one has seen him for a while. He strictly told people to stay away from his house so." Jordan shrugged. "Have you seen Sebastian yet then?" I shook my head. I'd somehow managed to drink my entire drink in my nervousness of bringing up Jon.

"I haven't come across him yet."

"No doubt he'll be upstairs." Jordan looked at me as though I was supposed to catch on to the joke. Just as I was about to respond to Jordan, loud shouts started echoing through the living room. A fight had broken out. I backed myself up against the bench as Jordan headed towards the door to see what was happening. He shot me a backwards glance. "You're not going to get yourself into trouble if I leave you here by yourself are you?" I laughed immediately in response as the alcohol flushed to my brain. Jordan sighed, heading back towards me. He lifted me up with ease, sitting me on top of the breakfast bar table. "Stay." He said simply. I easily amused myself whilst he was gone, pouring myself a little bit of each spirit that was on the table and trying it. I'd discarded most of the cups I'd poured them into. In what seemed like no time at all, Jordan had returned. "Woah there, save some cups for everyone else." He joked as he re-entered the kitchen.

"I'm just making everyone else's drinks." I laughed. "I'm a sweetheart, I know."

"You're pissed. That much I know." Jordan informed me.

"I'll live." I said cheerfully as I filled the cups. Jordan laughed, ruffling his dreadlocks.

"I'm sure you will."

 **Sebastian's POV**

Everyone seemed to be having a fantastic time. Take that Jace, try and top this party. I'd been upstairs, making sure that everyone was obeying the house rule of not touching my parent's bedroom. Everything was in full swing when I came downstairs. Jace was having a three way kiss with two cheerleaders who I didn't even know. _Maybe they were just trying out._ I emptied my cup and headed towards the kitchen to make myself a fresh one. There were only two people in the kitchen, Jordan and Clary. Jordan was casually resting against the counter, in his usual get up. Clary was dressed in a way that I never would have imagined when I first met her at school. Leather leggings? _Now that was hot._ She was sitting astride the breakfast bar, cups lined up alongside her as she poured alcohol indiscriminately amongst them. I cleared my throat before walking further into the room.

 **Clary's POV**

I turned my head towards the noise behind me. Sebastian was stood in the doorway. He was dressed in a pair of dark fitted jeans and a loose white t-shirt. Surprisingly, he had ditched his letterman t-shirt.

"Drink?" I offered him, gesturing to my many concoctions in front of me.

"I didn't think you were going to come Clary." He smiled, inspecting the cups. I shrugged.

"Eh, neither did I." Jordan burst out laughing behind me. Sebastian shot him a glance.

"At least she's honest." Jordan laughed. "Try one of her drinks, she's desperate for someone to try one." Sebastian obliged, taking a half filled cup from the edge of the table. He looked at me suspiciously before pouring it down the hatch. Once it was gone, he coughed deeply.

"Jesus Christ Clary. What the hell are you making in here?" His voice was hoarse.

"I'm the bartender." I shrugged, trying to pour alcohol into a cup and missing. I immediately placed the bottle down on the table. "Oops." Sebastian looked at Jordan.

"How much has she had?"

"A bit of this, bit of that. I did warn her not to mix her drinks." Jordan added.

"I think she might need some fresh air." Sebastian said, heading over in my direction.

"Stop talking about me like I'm not here." I grumbled, crossing my arms.

"Come on, you need some fresh air. Off the table." Sebastian gestured for me to jump down. I looked down, the floor was spinning making my head spin.

"Can't." I said simply, closing them. Sebastian sighed before laughing. His arms grabbed me around the waist before cementing me on the floor. He let go momentarily but must have saw how much I wobbled as he quickly held onto my side. Jordan bid me farewell as we left the kitchen out of the backdoor. Once we were outside, Sebastian sat me down on the grass before sitting himself next to me.

"I've lost Simon." I grumbled, playing with the grass underneath me.

"Is Simon your boyfriend?" Sebastian asked. I laughed, hitting him in the shoulder.

"No silly. Simon is my friend." I laughed. "I've lost him."

"I'm sure he'll find his way back to you." Sebastian reassured me.

"Why are you having a party to celebrate being Quarterback, if you're not Quarterback?" I couldn't stop myself, the alcohol loosening my lips.

"I wasn't really having this party to celebrate." He laughed. "I just like pissing Lily off. She's intolerable sometimes." I went to laugh but lost my balance, landing on my back on the grass. Feeling giddy, I pulled my legs up to my chest before holding them in a perfect vertical line in the air. "What on earth are you doing?"

"Being a gymnast." I laughed, trying to push my legs over my head.

"You're going to hurt yourself, that's what you're going to do." Sebastian's hands were on my thighs trying to push my legs back down onto the grass as I tried to push them towards my head. His strength easily outshone mine as he managed to push my legs back to the ground and me back into a seating position. I pouted at him for ruining my fun, not realising that his hand was still on my thigh. He was looking at me intently as his hand moved from my thigh up to my cheek. His face connected with mine. His lips pressing against mine firmly, searching as his tongue tried to gain access to my mouth. It was nice. I went with it. Until my sober brain kicked in. _I barely knew this guy! AND he was Jon's friend!_ I pulled myself back, feeling relatively awkward. I tucked my hair behind my ear as Sebastian looked at me, longingly.

"I'm sorry." I commented, fidgeting.

"You have nothing to be sorry for." Sebastian muttered, moving in once more.

 **Thank you for reading my story! Please feel free to let me know what you think!**

 **All of my love**

 **Until the next time**

 **~Sapph**


	4. Chapter 4: The Party II

I moved backwards, flailing myself onto the grass again as I burst out laughing. Thankfully, Sebastian joined me in my laughter rather than being annoyed.

"I am not nearly as drunk as you are. I have some catching up to do, are you alright to stand?" He climbed to his feet, pulling me up onto mine. I swayed momentarily before being sturdy in my footing. I followed him back into the house. Jordan had moved from the kitchen and it had been taken over by cheerleaders who were vomiting in the bin. Sebastian shot them a glance before guiding me through to the living room after grabbing a bottle of spirit from the table. I made my way over to a vacant beanbag and threw myself onto it, my legs stretched out in front of me. Sebastian joined me on the beanbag, making me rise slightly. He offered me the bottle first but I shook my head. I wasn't drinking anything else until I pulled myself around a bit.

"You've loosened up a bit." Jace sat himself down at the beanbag next to us, sipping from Sebastian's bottle. I pulled a face at him before resting my head back against the beanbag to stop the room from spinning. As my eyes were closed, I felt something ping off my nose. I opened one eye to see Jace high-fiving someone.

"You're not funny, y'know." I grumbled, stretching.

"I think you'll find I'm funny and highly attractive." Jace smirked, looking over me.

"I think you mean arrogant." I muttered, bringing my head up so that the room swam back into focus. "Did you ever find Simon?" I asked Sebastian, who was quickly becoming more and more intoxicated. He shook his head. Jace piped up.

"Do you mean that loser Simon Lewis?" He laughed loudly. I pushed myself to my feet.

"You're a dick." I commented, trying to wade my way through the crowd. I'd find Simon myself. I headed up the stairs as I'd pretty much been everywhere downstairs and hadn't come across him. I poked my head in a couple of bedrooms but mainly came across couples in various stages of "relations". When I stuck my head in a bathroom, I finally found him curled up on the floor, vomiting into the toilet. I sat myself down next to him, even though the room absolutely stank and wrapped my arm around his shoulder.

"Have you been up here this whole time?" I asked him.

"Someone gave me a drink in the kitchen but it was like a mix of alcohol and chilli and god knows what else but it's knocked me for six." Simon sighed, resting his chin on the toilet.

"Do you want to go home?" I asked him.

"I don't know if I dare move. I think I need to sleep it off." Simon grunted, slumping next to the toilet.

"Well Sebastian said yesterday that sometimes people stay over. So, you go ahead, sleep." I told him but I think he was already asleep by this point. I found a towel on the rack and placed it over him, hoping to keep him a little bit warm and somewhat comfortable. I patted his head lightly before heading back out onto that landing. My heart jumped into my throat when I saw that large guy from earlier heading down the same one. I tried putting my head down and walking past but it was never going to work.

"Hey, sexy lady!" He shouted, grabbing me around the middle as I walked past. _Jesus, he was even more drunk than when I'd seen him last._ I tried pulling myself from his grip but it was easier said than done. His hands had stuck fast like glue as he held me rooted to the spot. "Where do you think you're going now? You know what they say about coming upstairs at a house party. Can only mean one thing." He laughed heartily. "And as for those pants – well why would you wear them, if you weren't on my same page?" He smirked, trying to lean into me. Thankfully I was rescued once more as Jordan appeared from the bottom of the corridor pulling the larger man from me.

"Do her pants say 'please, take me Rocco'? No? Then do one." Jordan grunted at him and surprisingly he paid heed, disappearing into another room. "You need to stay away from him. He won't take no for an answer and he's considerably larger than you are." Jordan advised. I nodded, gulping at the thought.

"Most people are considerably larger than I am." I commented.

"Yes, but most people are also considerably politer." He had a point. We headed down the stairs together. Both Jace and Sebastian had acquired girls whilst I'd been gone, kissing them on adjoining bean bags.

"Does everyone just kiss everyone?" I asked Jordan. He nodded.

"Pretty much. Why, are you feeling left out?" He smirked at me.

"Once is enough." I laughed. Jordan looked at me, eyebrows raised.

"Jace?" He asked. I shook my head, firmly. "Sebastian? Really?" He seemed surprised. "And you went for that did you?" I was confused. I shrugged. "It doesn't seem to have had that much of an effect on you." He smirked.

"It's a bit of an awkward situation." I laughed, not wanting to go too much into it.

"I'd love to hear all about it." Jordan laughed, helping me down the stairs. Just as we reached the base, a loud song with a thumping bass line pumped out of the speakers. Everyone who was previously sat down were now on their feet as bottles, fists and even clothing were being waved in the air. I tried to stick close to Jordan as we weaved through the crowd but alas, it didn't take long for me to get lost from him. Thankfully because everyone was on their feet, there were plenty of bean bags going spare. I found one just underneath the window and sat myself down. Now that I was starting to sober up, I felt really tired but I dared not to go to sleep where I was. When the music finally started to die down, I was approached by three girls. They were all wearing the same dress but in different colours.

"Who are you? I haven't seen you about before."

"She's in our form isn't she, Emma?"

"I think so, Helen." All three girls were looking at me suspiciously.

"Who invited you?" The girl in the middle said, her lip curling, arms folded.

"Sebastian." I said simply, trying to look past them. _Where the hell was Jordan?_ The girls all looked between themselves in shock.

"Here's the deal sweetie." The clear leader sat on the beanbag next to me. "You don't interact with footballers unless you're a cheerleader. That's just the way things are done around here. We don't _like_ outsiders. Mmkay honey? Good chat." She smiled, getting to her feet and shaking her hair off. Her minions followed her away as I just shook my head. Jordan quickly occupied the space that she had left behind.

"What are you doing with Aline?" Jordan looked surprised as he drank from his hipflask.

"I think I've just been threatened." I laughed as I held my hand out to take the hipflask, swigging from it.

"By Aline? Well that's no surprise. She thinks she runs the school. Between you and me, I think she's been watching far too many highschool dramas." He smiled, taking the flask from me. "I think she's trying to re-establish her standing after the whole Jon thing."

"Jon thing?" I said, intrigued.

"Aline used to be pretty sweet for Jon. She was finally going to get her cliché highschool dream – head cheerleader and the Quarterback. She would have been homecoming Queen for sure." I had to stifle a laugh at Jordan's enthusiasm telling this story. "Then Jon gets in an accident, doesn't want to see _anyone_ anymore. Well that causes problems for Aline doesn't it? She's just waiting really, to see who gets the position. Then she'll go full throttle after them. Maybe she heard about you and Sebastian and took it as a threat."

"Well she needn't have." I added.

"Made up your mind already have we?"

"I don't think I could ever imagine myself dating a footballer."

"Well that's good news for me isn't it?" Jordan joked. "I'm kidding. Why? You don't believe in the highschool cliché do you?"

"No." _It's because they're all my brother's friends! Because they don't know who I am. Because I feel way over my head?_ All were plausible answers. "They're arrogant." Jordan shrugged.

"Fair enough." He seemed satisfied. "So who is Clary then? When she's not intoxicated at a party and dressed in leather?" He teased.

"She's a normal girl with a very uneventful life." _At the moment, it couldn't have been further from the truth._ "And Jordan? When he's not fighting off creepy football players and offering out drinking advice?"

"I think I've given a very fair representation of myself tonight actually." I shook my head at him. "A very firm 8/10." As the night was dwindling down, people were finding places to sleep and I excused myself so that I could go and check on Simon. I just say had my hand on the bathroom door when I felt a hand on my own shoulder. Praying that it wasn't 'Rocco', I turned around apprehensively. It was Jace.

"How strange to see you on your own!" I remarked, going to head into the bathroom.

"How common to see you on your own!" I shot him a look, he looked highly amused with himself.

"Then please, leave me alone." I added, he just laughed at me. Propping himself against the door frame, he looked at me intently.

"You know, I'm sure I know you from somewhere." He ran his hand through his hair. "I never forget a face."

"Congratulations." I smiled at him, hand on the bathroom door ready to enter. "Do you want an award for that achievement?"

"Actually all I want is you to do me a favour, give me a little kiss. Just a little one." Jace said and I turned to face him.

"What?" I said, looking at him as though he was absurd.

"Sebastian thinks he's pretty clever. Kissing you." I flushed immediately. _As if he was telling people._ "I don't like Sebastian getting one up on me."

"So, let me get this straight – you want me to kiss you to even the score?" Jace nodded. "No chance." I laughed, finally letting myself in to the bathroom. Simon was still where I had left him but his face was covered in little images. Jace had followed me in and watched me as I wiped down Simon's face.

"What an idiot." Jace scoffed. I turned to glare at him.

"If you're not going to make yourself useful can you leave please?" Much to my surprise, Jace took the towel from me, rewashed it in water before handing it back to me. I eyed him suspiciously as I wiped away the last of the marks from Simon's face. His demeanour seemed to have changed.

"I wish someone cared for me like that." Jace commented as I brushed Simon's hair from his face.

"I'm sure Aline and her little posse would care for you just fine if you asked them." Jace scoffed.

"They only care about who's on top. If Jon was still here, he would have had them at his feet. He always did. Christ, I miss the bloke." He sighed. "For me it's almost like he died in the crash. I don't hear from him at all. Can you imagine what that's like? Going from talking to someone every single day to just nothing?" _I tried to fight the urge to start crying. Yes. I could imagine that all too well. It was how I felt about my father. If not worse, because instead of talking to him every single day sometimes we went weeks without speaking. Never his fault though. Always mine._

"Have you tried messaging him? Or calling him? Maybe if he doesn't want to see you, he might still talk?" I tried to help best I could. Jace shook his head.

"He never replies. I don't know what the crash did to him, but he's lost more than his father. He's different."

I had to excuse myself. I made a beeline straight for the door and headed straight home. I'd sobered up completely. I needed to see Jon. I ran into the house in floods of tears, not bothering to knock before I entered his bedroom. He looked at me completely surprised as I ran in. I could only imagine what I looked like. I wrapped my arms around his chest and cried into his shoulder.

"What's happened Clary? Has someone hurt you?" He questioned me. I shook my head.

"I miss dad." I sobbed into his shoulder as he rubbed my back reassuringly. "I miss you."

"Hush, I'm not going anywhere. What's brought this on?"

It took me a while before I could speak to him properly. He smoothed my hair away from my face and I wiped my eyes gingerly.

"Your friends miss you." I said. Jon immediately looked downcast. "I understand why you can't have them here. But why not call them or message them?" I tried to reason with him.

"If I call or message them, they'll want to see me. They'll want to come over. I can't deal with that." His voice had went quiet all of a sudden. "Please don't make me deal with that." I embraced him tightly. _That was enough talking for one night._

 **Thank you for reading my stories!**

 **All of my love**

 **Until the next time**

 **~Sapph**


	5. Chapter 5: The Project

I was glad to see that Simon was alive come Monday morning. I hadn't heard from him at all on Sunday and I was starting to worry. As I entered the form room, he waved at me boldly from his seat at the front as I made my way over to my own. None of the football players were present, nor were the cheerleaders. Lily was sat looking excited at the table in front of me.

"I wonder if Sebastian realised I went to his party." She smirked looking really proud of herself. I cocked an eyebrow.

"Did he see you there?"

"No." She sniggered to herself like she was sitting on a really funny joke.

"Then he probably hasn't realised." I muttered, sitting down myself. As the room started to fill out, I noticed that Aline and her group were also in this form group. They were sat nearer Simon's side of the room. Just as the bell was about to sound, Sebastian and Jace slipped through the doorway and slid into their seats. Lily immediately went to open her mouth but Sebastian cut her to the punch.

"Yes. We know you were at the party. No. We don't care." He smiled. Her face fell short as she turned back to face the front, in a huff. Jace and Sebastian ignored my presence for a little while which was perfectly fine by me. Jace finally spoke to me about fifteen minutes from the end.

"I've thought about what you said by the way about Jon." Jace said catching Sebastian by surprise. "I think I might message him." _Somehow I had to backtrack this._

"I don't know Jon though, maybe it isn't a good idea." I said simply. "I wouldn't take my advice on it." Jace looked at me thoughtfully as he accepted what I was saying. He was about to open his mouth but our tutor cut him off.

"Group projects!" She smiled happily as she passed out pieces of paper to each set of four people. "Group projects!" Jace and Sebastian rolled their eyes in sync. I glanced the paper in front of me. We had to pick a subject from the list that we had been given and give a presentation that lasted the duration of form class to the rest of the group. It classed as homework, so we weren't allowed to just do it in form. _How wonderful._ Lily took the paper in her hands and immediately eyed both of the boys.

"Don't you even begin to think that me and Clary are doing all of this. We're going to schedule meetings outside of school and we're going to make the best presentation in this room. Are you even listening to me?" She was talking to them but they were talking amongst themselves. "If you don't put satisfactory input into it then I'll just tell our tutor that you haven't helped and you won't get credit for it. Then I suppose you won't be able to play football will you?" They both shot her a look as if to say ' _you wouldn't_ '. She smiled wickedly before making everyone exchange numbers so that we could keep in touch and organise meeting up to work on it. She didn't let us escape form without organising our first meet which was set for later that night. None of us could decide where to meet so we opened a group chat to keep up communication throughout the day until we found a suitable place.

 **Lily: Guys, take this seriously! I've been waiting two periods for someone to start this discussion about where we're going to meet, hurry up!**

 **Sebastian: Keep your knickers on.**

 **Jace: Calm your tits.**

 **Lily: I mean what I said. If you haven't decided where we're meeting by last period, I'll go and tell our tutor that you guys have explicitly told me that I have to do all the work.**

 **Clary: If you're so desperate for a meeting place, why don't we just meet at yours Lily?**

 **Sebastian: Yeah, what she said.**

 **Lily: We** **can't** **meet at my house. My Dad doesn't let me have boys in the house. Sebastian, what about your house? You can have parties there, so why not study meetings?**

 **Sebastian: I can't. My parents are still going wild about the party, I'm not allowed anyone over at the minute. Not while they're home anyway. What's wrong with your house, Clary?**

 _Jesus where do I start? What do I say?_

 **Clary: Sorry, my mum doesn't like having people in the house. That leaves Jace?**

 **Jace: Uh. Fine. You lot can come to my house. Meet me around the corner after school. I'm not having people see you get in my car Lily.**

 **Lily: Charming.**

When school was over, I made my way over to the corner where Jace had asked us to meet.

"Hey stranger!" A voice called. I looked behind me to see Jordan slouching against the wall. "What happened to the leather pants?" He laughed as I approached him. I looked down at my jeans and t-shirt combo.

"Somehow I get the feeling that they're against school regulations." I laughed, holding my books against my chest.

"Shame." He laughed. "Anyway, where are we off tonight?"

"Jace's." I said, rolling my eyes before launching into an explanation about the project and Lily's pushiness.

"I'm sure you have a thrilling night ahead of you. I better not keep you, catch you later." He patted my shoulder as he walked past, strolling down the street. As I was walking around the corner, my phone started vibrating in my pocket. I removed it, half expecting it to be Lily ringing me because I was late. It was Jon.

"Hey, what's the matter? Do you need me home?" I answered.

"No, no. I've got good news."

"Oh?" I questioned, full of hope.

"You know how I had my appointment today? The doctor wants to try me on crutches." I inhaled. "It's early days yet but it's a start and it gets me out of this flaming chair."

"That's brilliant, honestly."

"I knew you'd be happy about it. Give me a knock when you get home."

"I will do, see you later."

"See you, Clary."

Just as I put the phone down, a pair of heavy hands fell on my shoulders. I nearly jumped out of my skin. It was Sebastian. I quickly shoved my phone into my pocket as he joined me in step walking around the corner.

"What's up?" He asked, eyeing me suspiciously.

"Nothing. That was just my mum."

"Checking up on you is she?"

"Something like that."

Lily was waiting around the corner, her hand on her hip. She zoned in on us as soon as we rounded the corner.

"Where's Jace?" She said to Sebastian. He shrugged.

"He's coming, don't worry." He smiled. "Do you think he'd leave a girl like you waiting? Actually – hold that thought…" He trailed off, trying to wind her up. I slapped him across the arm but he just laughed. He looked like he was going to come out with something clever when Jace came bombing around the corner. He pulled up against the curb, winding his window down.

"Get in losers." He smiled pearly white, sunglasses adorning his face.

"You get in the front Lily, go on." Sebastian urged. She didn't need to be told twice. I turned to face Sebastian, watching him suspiciously before opening the back door and climbing across the seats. He hopped into the back next to me, flashing me a smile. I placed my bag on my legs as I looked out of the window as Jace drove a bit fast for my liking. His house was like nothing else I had ever seen in my life. It was gigantic. He drove the car around, parking it in the underground garage as I just about managed to pick my jaw up from the floor. The garage led straight up into the main entrance which was decked out in marble. It was unreal. Even the smell of it, it was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. I didn't even have the words. Jace led us up the stairs into his bedroom which could have easily housed my entire first floor. He waltzed straight over to one of the sofas draping himself over it as Sebastian sprawled out on a snuggle chair. Lily and I just stood in the doorway, both of us playing out our next move. I took the plunge, feeling watched, sitting myself on a separate snuggle chair next to Sebastian. I kept my legs firmly on the floor, sitting on it rather stiffly. Sebastian looked at me and pouted before patting the seat next to him on the snuggle chair. He got more than he bargained for when Lily placed herself next to him. She pulled out a large binder from her bag and slammed it down on the table that we surrounded.

"I've expanded the ideas out a bit. Fleshed them up a little bit and this is what I've reduced it down too." She muttered under her breath as she flipped through pages of ideas.

"And where did you find the time to do this?" Jace asked, casually as he looked up at the ceiling.

"Over lunch." Lily said as though it was obvious. I had a read through her ideas.

"Well which one do you want to do Lily?" I asked. It made more sense to give her the choice considering she was easily the smartest out of all of us.

"I want to do the newspaper." She said simply.

"But how would we do a presentation on that?" Sebastian asked.

"The process and then we present the physical newspaper. It plays to all of our strengthens."

 _She had a point._

"Doesn't that mean we can work separately and just compile?" Jace suggested.

"No." Lily shut him down. "We're going to meet once a week." Jace rolled his eyes. "At least."

We started by discussing ideas ranging from world news to school stories.

"We could write a piece about Jon." Lily piped up. All three of us shot her a look.

"What do you mean?" Jace asked, sitting up.

"Well nobody knows what's happened to him. He's just fell off the grid. It's like a mystery." I shook my head, partly in disgust, the other part disbelief.

"No." I said before Jace or Sebastian even had a chance to open their mouths. "He's just lost his father. He needs his privacy." The tears were coming hot and heavy now as I excused myself from the room. I tried and failed to find a bathroom, stopping as I reached a bay window that looked out at the grounds. I stood there for a few moments, breathing deeply until the tears subsided.

"That was a little sudden." Jace said from behind me. I wiped the remaining tears away.

"Sorry." I said in a small voice. Jace chuckled lowly.

"You needn't be sorry. You basically said what we were thinking." He said. "Are you sure you don't know Jon?"

"My father died. Not too long ago." I divulged, my chest heaving.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Were you guys close?" He asked. I broke down. I shrugged, guilt spreading. Jace grabbed a hold of my shoulders pulling me into him as he comforted me. I slipped out afterwards, not wanting to have to go back into the room with Sebastian and Lily. I'd already embarrassed myself enough in front of Jace. As soon as I got home, I knocked on Jon's door. He called me in.

"I'm not going to lie. I thought you'd be home a little earlier than this." He smirked, indicating for me to sit down. I saw his wheelchair in one corner, his crutches propped up against the window. I explained to him why I was late.

"Anyway, enough about that. How often do you have to use these then?" I gestured to the crutches.

"A couple of times a day. I can't use them fully yet, I still have to use the chair. But I have to keep trying them."

"So will you be coming back to scho-" I started but he was shaking his head.

"Not for a while yet. Not until I can walk comfortably on those crutches." I nodded understanding. Our conversation was interrupted when a sharp knock rang out on the door. I crept into the hallway and peeked out of the spy hole. It was Jace.

 _ **Thank you for reading! Until the next time, all of my love.**_

 _ **~Sapph**_


	6. Chapter 6: Distractions

I backtracked into Jon's room. He was looking at me expectantly. I looked at him for a moment before I opened my mouth.

"It's Jace." I said quietly and Jon's face fell. He looked long and hard about what he was going to do before a sudden fear took over him.

"He'll get in here. He knows where the spare key is." Jon muttered quickly, looking around his room. His eyes instantly fell on the wheelchair. He looked from the wheelchair to the crutches and then to me despairingly. I darted to the door as quick as my legs could carry me, grabbing my keys from the shoe cabinet next to the door before shoving them into the other side of the lock. I felt his key push against my own before the letterbox flickered open. I jumped just out of sight and out of the way but I felt fingertips brush past the material of my shirt. I heard Jace sigh on the other side of the door, footsteps receding down the pathway before a car pulled away minutes later. I walked back to Jon's room to tell him what had just happened. _Had I led Jace here?_

The next morning I walked to school with Simon and told him all about Jace turning up at our door unexpected.

"Why don't you just tell them that you're his sister?" I shook my head. "It's got to be easier than all of this."

"It would lead to awkward questions that Jon isn't ready to answer. Jon wants to be private about this and I have to honour that." I told Simon. "When Jon is ready, then I'll be ready."

"But if you just told them – surely they'd understand if you wanted your privacy." I looked at Simon seriously. "Okay, maybe you have a point."

"All it would do is make Jon's life harder and he doesn't need that right now. He's only just started to make progress. " Simon and I arrived at form first as usual. Surprisingly, Jace and Sebastian rocked up next talking in hushed voices. It was only when they sat down that I heard what they were saying.

"That's not the weirdest part. I'm telling you – it was a girl. I know it was."

"Seriously?" Sebastian responded, throwing his bag under the table. I was drawing mandalas, trying not to obviously listen in, trying to look preoccupied. I already knew what they were talking about.

"I'm about 90% certain mate."

"So he's well enough to see girls, but doesn't want us anywhere near?" Sebastian concluded. "As you do. Cheers mate." He finished bitterly.

"I reckon we should go back there tonight. Both of us. Talk to his mother or something. Surely she can't agree with all of this. He needs his friends. Everyone needs friends. If he can have Aline around, cause let's be honest it's probably her, he can have us."

 _This was making me feel mighty uncomfortable. I couldn't let them go near my house. Knowing Mum she would just invite them in with open arms. But how could I possibly stop this without dropping Jon and myself in it? Here goes nothing._

"Shame the pair of you already have plans tonight." I smiled, they span to look at me. "Study group. Tonight. Don't tell me you two forgot." _I was running with it._

"Alright Lily, calm down." Jace smirked.

"Didn't you run out on the project yesterday?" Sebastian tried to return the joke but failed. _He had zero clue about the conversation Jace and I had had. About my father. It had worked in my advantage though, I could see Jace's face change. The way he was starting to feel guilty for what Sebastian had unknowingly said._

"What time are we working on the damned thing then?" Jace broke.

"You tell me, it's your house." I shrugged, finishing off my mandala.

"After school works for me." Jace shrugged.

"I have a detention, so I'd have to head over after that." Sebastian added before grunting. Lily had just entered, a massive book bag hanging over her shoulder.

"So! Let's talk study group." She announced, throwing her bag down at the table.

"We've already discussed it. Tonight, after school. Same place."

"I have debate club after school!" She protested, looking outraged.

"It's alright, Sebastian has detention so he can bring you afterwards." Sebastian looked at Jace like he'd get him back for that one later. Lily dominated the conversation for the rest of the period. As the bell rang, Jace smiled at me.

"Catch you after school." He smirked.

I sat with Simon for lunch.

"I was thinking maybe we could go see a movie tonight?" Simon said, taking a mouthful. I indicated one second while I swallowed my own mouthful.

"I'd love too but I've already got plans." Simon looked at me confused. "I'm going to Jace's for study group."

"Raincheck?" Simon smiled optimistically.

"Definitely." I agreed with a grin.

Once lessons were finished, I headed out towards the car park to meet Jace.

"Always in a hurry." Jordan had appeared behind me, walking leisurely dressed in a pair of ripped jeans and a navy leather jacket. "Scampering here and scampering there." I shot him a look.

"I don't scamper." I laughed as he broke into a smile.

"Scuttle?" He suggested.

"I'm not a crab."

"Trot?"

"Not a horse."

"Romp?"

"You offering?" I turned around and smirked. Jordan burst out laughing.

"You're full of surprises." He said through laughter. "What does today have in store for you?"

"Study group."

"Sounds thrilling. Want to sack it off?"

"Probably not the best idea when I was the one who suggested it."

"Boo." He patted me on the shoulder. "Another time."

 **Jace: I'm at the car, have you gotten lost?**

"I'll leave you too it. Catch you later romper." He smirked before climbing aboard a motorbike near the front of the car park. I wandered the parked cars looking for the one I had been in yesterday. A loud honk echoed around nearly making me jump out of my skin. Jace was sitting behind his steering wheel laughing before winding the window down.

"Come on Barbie, let's go party." He called out attracting the attention of quite a few groups in the car park. Aline and her gang were one of those groups, eyeing me suspiciously. I rolled my eyes as I hopped in the car next to him.

"I think the word you meant to say was 'study'."

"Do you have to be such a thrill killer?" He asked as he started the car. I shrugged.

"You're forgetting I've been to a party with you before. It was less than thrilling." I smirked as I placed my bag on the seats in the back.

"That was Sebastian's party not mine."

"Potato, Potahto." Jace looked at me amused.

"Come to my party."

"What party?"

"It's this weekend. Quite lowkey."

"I'll think about it."

"Say a word about it to Lily and I'll kill you."

"I'll think about it." I mused. _Realistically, it was in my best interests to stick close to Jace and Sebastian. The closer I was, the more I could divert them away from Jon and me._ Just as I pulled myself from my thoughts I looked out onto the road we were driving down. It was taking a hell of long time to get to his house. _Had it taken this long the first time?_

"We're going to the store. I need some sugar if I've got to deal with Lily two nights in a row. Plus we have time to kill." He informed me as we pulled up. I sat in the car idly until Jace looked at me, unbuckling my seatbelt. "Come on, out." I groaned, following him into the store. He grabbed a basket swinging it merrily.

"I thought you wanted some sugar, not a full shop." I commented as we headed up the confectionary aisle.

"I need my fix." Jace shrugged as he picked out chocolates and jellies, bonbons and caramels.

"For a week?" I looked on in shock. He eyed me evilly.

"You really know how to wound a man don't you?" He mocked as he eyed up the crisps and nuts.

"You haven't an inch of fat on you Jace. I doubt you're wounded." I laughed, following him along.

"Nice of you to notice." He grinned. "What do you think Sebastian would prefer sweet or salted?" Jace said holding up the popcorn.

"How should I know?"

"Well, what does Jon prefer?" He shot back quickly and innocently. _Salted._ I very nearly said out loud. Instead I screwed my face.

"How should I know?" I repeated. Jace seemed appeased and threw a pack of both into his basket.

"Anything you want while we're here?" I picked up a cheap pack of mint imperials and placed them in the basket. Jace looked at me pitifully. When we reached the checkout, I fished in my pocket for the money for the sweets. "I'll pay, its fine."

"No, I can get it." He pushed my hand away. "You can make it up to me by coming to my party." I followed Jace back to the car with our three filled bags. Sebastian's car wasn't at the house when we got there. I trailed after Jace up to the house and was in awe once more. The house was unreal. Jace led me through to the kitchen, pouring his assortment of sweets into bowls. I sat myself down at the breakfast bar as Jace pottered about.

"I'm sure Sebastian will appreciate all of this effort." I commented, smiling. Jace looked at me, smiling lightly.

"And that means?"

"You make a wonderful couple." I teased, resting my head on my hands.

"You're hilarious." Jace commented as he grabbed some drinks from the fridge.

"Just own your love."

"Do you get a kick out of winding people up?" He asked, placing a drink in front of me. I shrugged. "Usually that's my gig."

I was just about to answer him when a knock rang out at the door. Footsteps on marble and someone joined us in the kitchen. Sebastian had arrived, alone.

"What have you done with Lily?" Jace asked, concerned.

"Wouldn't you like to know…" Sebastian trailed off, resting himself against the bench before pulling himself up onto it.

"I would like to know actually." I said and Sebastian looked at me as though he was seeing me sat there for the first time.

"All the gory details?" He smirked, leaning forward with a devilish look on his face. Jace chucked a sweet at him.

"Where is she really?" He asked.

"Apparently 'debate class got _**super duper**_ interesting and she _**couldn't shouldn't wouldn't**_ possibly dream of leaving early!' So she's heading over here when it's all over."

" _Thrilling!"_ Jace almost bordered on jazz hands. "So, what are we going to do in the mean time?" Sebastian wiggled his eyebrows at me, prompting another sweet thrown from Jace.

"We could totally go in the pool." Sebastian suggested.

"It's just been cleaned." Sebastian pouted. "It'll be ready for Saturday. Don't you worry your pretty little head!"

"Seeing as we've got all of these sweets, how about a movie?" Sebastian instead suggested. Jace seemed to agree. Sebastian hopped from the counter, grabbing a couple of bowls before he led the way. I grabbed another few bowls as Jace brought up the rear. Sebastian led us up three flights of stairs before he turned down a long winding corridor. At the very end of the corridor stood a heavy door that I would imagine led to a studio of some sort. Inside the room was a personal cinema with a 3 row of sofas and a cinema screen.

"You've got to be kidding me." I muttered to myself in the doorway, forgetting Jace was behind me.

"Pretty nice huh?" Jace smirked, skirting past me.

"And you want to have a party, in this house?" I asked, shocked. Jace shrugged.

"I'll lock up rooms like this. I'm not that stupid."

"You sure about that?" Sebastian joked reclining across one of the couches. Jace grabbed what looked like a remote control and reclined on another sofa. I sat myself down on a sofa in the same row, with my legs crossed. Jace connected the cinema screen up to Netflix and trawled through the selections. We'd been looking for about 15 minutes when our phones vibrated in sync.

"Lily." Sebastian and Jace groaned. They rock, paper, scissor'd it for who had to go and let her in. Sebastian won and Jace trudged out of the room.

"So, are you coming to the party this weekend?"

"Do you guys have a party every weekend?" I deflected.

"Sometimes. Are you coming?"

"I think so." I finally agreed.

 _ **Thank you for reading my story! I really appreciate every bit of feedback.**_

 _ **All of my love, until the next time.**_

 _ **~Sapph**_


	7. Chapter 7: Surprises

Lily pretty much lost her mind when she entered the room.

"And what part of the newspaper is _this_ helping with?!" She scolded us as she stood in the doorway. She had her arms crossed across her chest but she was leaning slightly to the side, probably weighed down by her massive bookbag.

"The film review section." Sebastian grunted through a mouthful of Haribo.

"What film review section?" Jace had skirted past her, moving further into the room as she kept nipping at Sebastian.

"Surprise!" Sebastian mocked, throwing popcorn at Lily. She looked livid, her temper wearing thin.

"Why am I wasting my time here? After the day I have had as well! I can't be bothered with your childish tomfoolery! I will see you all in form because I have _better_ things to be doing than sitting around watching films!" She stormed out of the room, she tried to slam the door behind her but it proved too heavy so she opted for heavy footing all down the hallway. We were all staring at the empty doorway.

"So, what happens if she gets lost?" I commented a few moments later. They both shrugged.

"Not my problem."

"Who cares?"

"Alright then, if you want to get yourself comfortable in your house – sleep, shower – just for Lily to wander in the room halfway through. But hey, that's none of my business." I smiled at my nails as Jace seemed to be listening to and weighing up what I was saying.

"Ah for god's sake." He grumbled, rushing from the room. Sebastian grabbed the remote control, laughing.

"You'd think you wanted to get me on my own." He smirked, leaning over his seat and looking at me. I couldn't even think of a reply. Jace appeared a few moments later.

"She must have found her way out." He shrugged.

"Or, she's hiding under your bed." Sebastian added. I stretched, lifting myself from my chair. I wasn't going to sit around just the three of us. I didn't fancy being talked about!

"I'll be heading off then – no point in staying if we're not working on the newspaper." I made my way for the door. They were both looking at me relatively surprised.

"You don't have to leave you know." Sebastian piped up.

"Don't worry. I'm not keen on being a third wheel." I teased as I headed down the corridor.

"How are you getting home?" Jace was standing in the doorway behind me. I span to face him for a moment.

"I've got these nifty things called legs, I was planning on using them." Jace shook his head, trying not to laugh at me.

"Are you sure? One of us can take you if you want?"

"The fresh air will do me good, see you's tomorrow." I remembered where we had walked before and easily found my escape from the house. It was getting dark out, but only just. I was about ten minutes away from home when I nearly jumped out of my skin. A light shone on me, a deafening _beep_ blasting out. I span around, blinking against the light. All I could see was pearly teeth beaming at me, before the light cut out. Jordan was grinning at me from astride his motorbike, dreadlocks hanging out from under his helmet. He removed it from his head, placing it in between his legs. I moved over closer to the bike to stop myself blocking up the entire pathway.

"Did neither of them offer you a ride?" Jordan looked appalled.

"They did." I admitted. "I just declined."

"Did you now?" Jordan seemed amused. "And if I offered you a ride?"

"I'd love to, but alas, I do not have a helmet." I smirked.

"You needn't fret. I'm well prepared. I have a spare." He was grinning wickedly.

"Well I don't have far to go." I retracted.

"Are you frightened?"

"No!" I responded instantly. Jordan smirked, patting the space on the seat behind him.

"Prove it." He laughed as he fished for the spare helmet. I sighed, taking it from him.

"I haven't even got a clue –" I started rambling as Jordan got to his feet and helped me put the helmet on. He climbed back onto the bike, looking at me expectantly.

"The first step – get on the bike." He had an unshakeable smile on his face. I cautiously put one leg over the bike, sliding into place behind him carefully.

"The second step – hold on tight and if I move, you move." He said, putting his helmet back on. I didn't need telling twice. I wrapped my arms tightly around his middle. He's body was firm under my grip. I felt instantly queasy. _A mixture of embarrassment and fear._ Jordan started at a comfortable pace and I could tell he was doing it for my benefit. I'd only just realised that I hadn't told him where I lived but he didn't seem to be going there anyway. We drove for a solid fifteen minutes until Jordan pulled into a dark side street. I had zero idea where we were. Jordan pulled his helmet from his head and I followed suit. He must have seen the trepidation on my face.

"I know – dark, creepy alley. It doesn't look good but trust me." He held out a hand for me to take as he hopped from the bike. I took it gingerly and followed him to the end of the street. He held a door open for me and I walked into a room with a long winding staircase leading to a door. Jordan was right behind me, pushing me to walk up the stairs. I headed up and opened the door to be confronted with a pool hall.

"See PG-13!" Jordan laughed against my ear before he went over to the desk to pay for a table.

"This wasn't what I was expecting." I admitted as we set up our table. Jordan handed me a cue.

"Have you played before?"

"I play with my dad sometimes." I said without thinking. "Used to play with my dad." I corrected myself.

"Yeah I used to play with my Dad too." Jordan said bitterly as he broke. "Until he upped and left with my babysitter that is."

"Sorry to hear that." I said as I took my shot.

"Do you have a similar story?" He inquired.

"What do you mean?"

"You said – used to?" Jordan potted a ball.

"Oh." I took a deep breath. "My Dad passed away."

"Oh god, sorry Clary. I thought you meant – sorry, I didn't mean to pry." Suddenly Jordan was tripping on his words.

"It's fine. It's just something I'm still getting used to. If that's even possible."

Jordan managed to change the subject to something more light-hearted as we played our money's worth at the pool table. Jordan wouldn't take no for an answer when I told him I'd walk home and insisted on driving me. I got him to drop me a couple of streets away just in case he knew where Jon and I lived. He happily obliged and helped me with my helmet. My hair bounced all over the place when he pulled it free. He tucked my hair behind my ear.

"Thanks for trusting me tonight." He smiled, kissing my forehead. "It's not something I can say happens too often."

"I don't believe that, not with a face like that." I joked as he hopped back on his bike.

"Maybe I just don't give them the opportunity." He revved his engine. "Catch you later, romper." He teased before tearing off down the street. I pulled my jacket closer to myself as I headed around the block. As I was rounding the corner to head down my street, I bumped straight into someone else. It was Aline. She looked at me with disgust and confusion.

"What are _you_ doing here?" She looked down her nose at me. She was tall and sleek, her blonde hair resting down her back.

"Going home." I said simply, trying to edge my way around her. She wasn't having any of it. For such a dainty girl, she was making it impossible to get past her.

"What are you playing at?" She asked in a sickly sweet voice.

"I don't know what you mean, can you please get out of my way?"

"You _know_ that Jon lives on this street _**and**_ you've been seeing Sebastian and Jace. Just what are you trying to do?" She rested her hand on her hip and popped it.

"I'm in a study group with Sebastian and Jace and I'm just trying to get home. Now please, will you get out of my way?"

"Hmm, that better be the truth." She tittered, stepping to one side. I went to walk past but she caught my arm so that our faces were side to side. "I'm not someone to mess with darling. Keep that in mind. Toodles." When she was gone and I was walking towards my house, a thought struck. _Why had she been on this road?_ I made sure she was out of the way before I turned into my house. My mum was standing over the sink when I entered washing cups.

"Hello dear, you've just missed company."

"Who?" I asked, confused.

"Aline, I think she called herself. Lovely young girl. One of Jon's friends. Jon had expressly warned me that if anyone was to come around asking that I have to tell them he's not home."

"You didn't tell her about me, did you?" I asked, suddenly nervous. Mum laughed.

"No dear, your brother has filled me in on everything. I have to admit, I wish he would let his friends in, it might do him some good. But if this is what he wants, and this is what you want – ultimately it's what I want."

I smiled at her before I went to head upstairs.

"But Clary, if you need to talk. About anything, at any time. _Please_ talk to me." I nodded before bidding her goodnight.

I called Simon once I got in my room.

"Hey, hey!" He answered.

"How would you like to come to a party? With me? Saturday?" I asked.

"I'm not sure, after how the last one went. Where is it?"

"Jace's house. You need to come, you'll love it."

"I don't love Jace, I don't even remotely like him."

"But you'll love his house."

"I'll think about it."

"Let me know by Saturday though, will you?"

Saturday rolled around quickly. Jon seemed a bit more bummed about missing this party than he had been about Sebastian's but he seemed keen for me to attend. Simon had finally agreed to come to the party after a couple of days of persuasion. He'd agreed to drive as it had been made clear to us by Jon that everyone stayed over at these parties as Jace had ample room. He'd also advised on taking a change of clothes as apparently people ended up thrown in the pool on a regular basis. I opted for a black bodysuit with a pair of denim shorts over the top, paired with a wedge. I felt somewhat naked, so I added a brightly coloured kimono over the top. I grabbed a sports bag and filled it with my change of clothes – a tshirt and a pair of ripped jeans. Simon was perfectly on time. He was dressed in a pair of tight pale jeans and a black t-shirt with a movie quote splashed across the front of it.

"Let's try for a better party tonight, huh?" I smirked as I climbed into the front seat.

"Yeah, I'll be happy if I can remember anything more than the first 30 minutes."

"Don't drink anything that you don't prepare, unless it's from someone you trust." I reiterated my mum's words to Simon.

"Easier said than done." Simon laughed, as he turned down the road into Jace's estate. "Maybe we won't get lost from one another this time."

"Hmm, questionable. Jace's house is about 10 x the size of Sebastian's? So that's 10 x the possibility?" I smirked.

"Well. I'll just have to try 10 x harder." Simon returned my grin as he pulled his car up. Sebastian's car was already in the driveway, along with many many more. There was also a familiar looking motorbike pulled up near the front door. This party was going to be interesting.

 _ **Thank you thank you thank you for reading my stories! I appreciate every single one of you who takes the time to read and especially those who feedback. Mwah mwah mwah!**_

 _ **All of my love,**_

 _ **Until the next time!**_

 _ **~Sapph**_


	8. Chapter 8: The Second Party

_**BUMPER CHAPTER ( Are you excited? I'm excited!)**_

Simon and I decided to keep our change of clothes in the car, safe and sound so that we didn't lose them should we need them later on. No one seemed to be on the grounds at this moment, but the house was full of lights and noise. Simon helped me up the gravel path and up the stairs leading to the house. The door was wide open, music blasting into the night. I couldn't quite make out what it was but it was thumping. Simon followed me into the house and I was glad to see that there were no beanbags here. The crowd looked more dispersed than it had at Sebastian's but I think that had more to do with the sheer amount of space this house had. I hadn't encountered one person yet who I recognised. Drinks were lined up everywhere either in bottles or already poured into cups. Simon made a beeline for the table and took two of the cups and drank from both of them. I quickly nipped at his heels.

"Si!" I protested as he turned to face me, wiping his lips with the back of his hand. "What happened to what we've literally just talked about?" Simon smiled sheepishly.

"Liquid courage." He shrugged before reaching for a bottle and pouring me a drink into one of his newly empty cups. I drank it straight off, I needed some liquid luck of my own. The first person I caught sight of was Aline and her little group. She was dressed in a body hugging silver dress that did very little to conserve her modesty. She had thigh high boots on and was strutting around the house like lady of the manor. Thankfully she didn't see me as she snaked her way into another room. I turned around to make a comment to Simon and he was gone. _What was it with Simon and parties? Where on earth could he have possibly went in ten seconds?!_ I checked every corner of the room we were stood in and couldn't find him. _Fabulous._ I stood at the base of the drinks table and made myself a stiff drink to prepare me for basically walking into this party alone. I drank it quickly before making another one up to carry with me. I came to a crossroads within the house, unsure whether to turn left or right. A cry of 'shots, shots, shots!' rang out from the left so I instantly turned right and weaved my way down a darkened corridor. I pressed myself against the wall as three girls came running down the corridor giggling as 'Rocco' chased them down the hall. I almost shoved my face into the wall just to avoid him recognising me. Thankfully he was fully occupied with his three ladies. I sipped my drink light heartedly as I wandered down the corridor ideally looking for Jordan or Simon, willing to deal with Jace or Sebastian. I'd found myself in what must have been a function room as there were disco lights spinning, people dancing on wooden floors. I couldn't see a thing. I made my way straight across that room and found myself outside on the porch. The front door was in my sights as I made my way back over to it to start again and hopefully find my way back to Simon.

"Lost are we?" I nearly jumped out of my skin as I span on the spot, nearly toppling over in my wedges. Jordan was sitting on the porch railings, leaning against the pillar. I regained my footing, eyeing him narrowly.

"Simon is." I sighed, walking over to the railings, resting my hands on them.

"This Simon character must be Houdini in disguise with the ability to vanish into thin air." He was smiling wickedly as pulled his hipflask from his jacket, swigging from it. He offered it to me and I took a small sip.

"He can't stand still." I shrugged. Jordan hopped down from the railings. He was dressed in tight black jeans with a muscle-fit white t-shirt and his trademark leather jacket over the top.

"I've got something to show you." Jordan smiled, offering me a hand. I took it as he led me back through the door that I'd come from. He crossed the disco room with ease and diverted me down a corridor past couples who were pressed up against walls and tucked into corners. He opened a door and allowed me to walk in first. This room was completely empty apart from the pool table that stood in the middle of it.

"I've very surprised this room is empty." I remarked as Jordan set up the table.

"Why's that?"

"There's plenty of guys here. You'd think someone would be playing."

"There's also plenty of girls here." Jordan smiled. "Lucky for us." He handed me a pool cue. We talked a little, played a little and drank a lot. Jordan seemed dismayed when he realised his hipflask was empty.

"Why don't we just fill it up with something out of a bottle?" I questioned, Jordan waved his hand at me.

"Don't be silly! I've brought my whiskey with me." He smirked. "Wait here, I'll be two seconds." He headed out of the room and I tried my hardest to occupy myself. Alcohol must have brought out my inner rebel because whenever I was left alone under the influence, all I could think about was all the fun things I could get up too. _What does a pool table feel like? What would it be like to sit on it? Stand on it?_ Before I could even get through all the questions I'd built up in my mind, I was climbing onto it. The door opened just as I'd managed to get myself into a kneeling position on it.

"Woah, woah, woah." Someone came running up behind me, moving me from my knees into a sitting position. It was Jace. "I don't even know what question to ask first." He shook his head. He was dressed in dark jeans with a black low cut t-shirt. I just laughed. "Okay, why are you in here by yourself?"

"I'm not by myself." I smiled, running my hands over the green material of the pool table. Jace looked around the room, clearly looking for another person.

"Alright then. Why are you on top of the pool table?"

"I wanted to see how it felt." I shrugged. "It's not that fantastic actually." I grumbled. Jace shook his head at me.

"Do you need a lift down?" As I was debating it, someone called his name in the hallway. A very familiar voice. Aline wandered into the room and narrowed her eyes at the scene in front of her. Once she'd fully evaluated the scene before turning on the waterworks.

"Jace, I've been looking all over for you." She sniffled as she entered the room. "What are you doing with _her?!_ " I rolled my eyes at her from my perch on the table as Jace looked between us.

"Come on now Aline, there's no need to be mean." Jace went to lead her from the room, her chest was rising and falling.

"You don't know who she is Jace! What she's done to me and what's she's doing to all of you!" She spat. I was intrigued. _What on Earth was she talking about?_

"Just slow down Aline – what has she done?"

"I went to Jon's during the week and she was there."

"She was at Jon's?" Jace seemed flabbergasted.

"Well no, she was near his street." Aline backtracked. "Jon wasn't there. But when I got home that night he sent me a message telling me to stay away from his house and to stay away from him and I **know** she has something to do with it. She was near his street!" Any interest Jace had had in this conversation was dwindling.

"You can't blame her just because she was near his street Aline. Come on, let's get you another drink." Jace led her from the room, looking back at me with a 'sorry' on his face. Jordan came back in a few minutes later.

"How did you get up there?" He questioned as he made his way towards the table.

"Magic." I wiggled my fingers in a dramatic fashion. Jordan offered me the hip flask once more and I accepted. "What kept you so long?" I questioned.

"Everyone was making a beeline for the pool. I may or may not have been distracted throwing Seb in." I shook my head at him. "Do you need a hand down?" He offered. I nodded, I'd had enough of sitting on the table. He reached out for me, his hands enveloping my waist as he lifted me down. He placed me delicately on my feet as I smoothed down my kimono. His dreadlocks brushed past my face as he straightened up. Again, I acted before I thought about it.

"Boop." I giggled as I tugged a strand of his hair. He looked at me, amused.

"Boop." He responded, bopping my nose. I squished my eyes together. Jordan grabbed my hand when my eyes were closed and pulled me from the room. I followed along after him as we weaved through the disco room and into the main hallway. It was the first time I'd seen Sebastian. He was dressed in light coloured clothing that seemed to be in the middle of drying out, leaning against the drinks table. His face lit up at the sight of Jordan, confusion striking when he saw me being pulled behind.

"Can I have a word mate?" Sebastian asked, pulling Jordan away. Jordan looked at me as though to say 'stay put'. I swayed on the spot a little, drinking a bit of this and a bit of that. I had every intention of staying put, but then I thought I'd seen Simon heading outside. Brain + alcohol = obviously I followed him out. I found myself wandering down a grass bank towards noise, the Simon I had seen had somehow disappeared. My wedges clearly weren't made for walking down grassy slopes as the ground quickly swallowed me up. I lay on my back on the grass listening to music what must have being played around the pool. As though on que a giant flock of people moved back up towards the main house. I made sure that I was out of the way, walking to where the people had just emerged from. I found myself at the pool, no one else around. It had an entire building to itself. There was a sauna to one side of it. _Just how much money did Jace's parents have?_ The side of the pool was littered with all sorts of items – bras, cups and odd shoes. I pulled my wedges from my feet, dipping my legs up to my knees in the water. The water was warm and made me giggle as it ran between my toes.

"Clary." I heard Jordan scold me. "It's dangerous to be near water by yourself when you're drunk." He sat himself next to me at the poolside, completely out of the water.

"I thought I saw Simon." I admitted, kicking my legs in the water.

"I think I've just been told off." Jordan smirked as he set about trying to roll his trouser legs up.

"Why?" I asked, taking one leg out of the water before submerging it once again.

"Sebastian thinks I'm 'leading you on'." Jordan finally put his legs in the water. I wasn't sure how to respond.

"How insightful of Sebastian." I remarked as Jordan flicked water at me with his foot.

"I think it's just strange for Sebastian. I'm not usually a one for girls. But you're different. I think Sebastian feels threatened." I scoffed.

"You're daft." I was a mixture of embarrassed and confused and not really wanting to get into this conversation. Jordan's foot skirted past mine in the water as I had another one of those rebellious drunken thoughts. I placed my hands on Jordan's back, pushing him forcefully into the water. I don't know how I'd managed it, but he fell straight into the pool, completely submerged. He took a while to surface and when he did, he was on the other side of the pool. He had a devilish look in his eye as he waded through the pool.

"I'm not sure how I didn't see that one coming." He was laughing as he brushed his dreadlocks back. My breath caught in my throat as Jordan wrapped his hand around my ankle. He tugged at it lightly, making my fingers grip onto the poolside tightly. His other hand grabbed my other ankle. "I'm going to give 2 options. Option 1, you can lower yourself into the pool. Option 2, I'm going to throw you in the pool. Either way, you're coming in this pool!" I burst into laughter. Jordan's hands moved from my ankles to halfway up my calf. He tugged again threateningly. "Five, four…" His hands were just above my knees. "Three, two…" He didn't even get to one. His hands sprang from the water wrapping around my lower back and pulling me onto his hip under the water before dunking my head. I pushed myself back up to the surface. Unlike Jordan I couldn't reach the bottom of the pool normally, I had to kick my legs lightly to stay afloat. We laughed in sync as Jordan splashed me. He pulled his hipflask out from his soaking shirt and offered it to me. I swam closer to him, wrapping my legs around one of his legs just to help me stay afloat. We shared the last of the hipflask as the door to the pool opened.

"Well, this is a strange sight." Jace commented as he entered the room. He was followed by Aline who looked over the moon to see me there with Jordan. Her arm was wrapped up in the back of Jace's t-shirt as though she didn't want him to leave her sights. "Speaking of weird sights, I think I've just seen your friend 'Simon' is it? Yeah, I think I've just seen him leaving." My mind instantly jumped to my spare clothes that were in the back of Simon's car and then to _why the hell is Simon driving a car drunk?_ I hopped out of the pool quickly and out of the door. The grass outside stuck to my feet as I scaled the bank looking for Simon's car. I caught sight of him climbing into his car as I got to the top of the hill. I waved my hands to get him to stop – he couldn't possibly drive a car after drinking. I was quite surprised to see his mother at the wheel of the car. I ducked, my spare clothes suddenly not as appealing. She seemed to be giving him what for, and I wasn't sure what exactly had went on. Surely someone would inform me later. Jordan was shouting behind me as he tried to cross the embankment.

"Why the rush?" He asked.

"My clothes are in that car." I pointed as Simon's car drove out of Jace's estate. "Buggar."

"We'll sort you out." Jordan assured me as he headed over to his bike. He looked through his stuff, he picked out a t-shirt for himself and passed one to me as he pulled out a pair of fresh jeans. "Sorry, I don't have any jeans that'll fit you." He laughed, handing me a towel that he had. I wrapped the towel around my waist, drying myself off best I could. Ultimately, I was going to have to keep wearing most of what I had on anyway. I left Jordan by his bike as I went on a hunt for a bathroom so that I could sort myself out. I promised Jordan I'd meet him back at the bike in ten minutes. I found a bathroom near the cinema room from earlier in the week. I managed to get my bodysuit practically dried using some weird heated towel rack in the bathroom. My hair had grown to mammoth proportions but I was too drunk to care. Just as I was drying my denim shorts on the heater, I could hear Jace and Aline talking on the other side. I heard 'Jon's' name and immediately pressed my ear to the door. They didn't seem to be talking particularly quiet.

"Jace, I'm telling you she knows something about it!" Aline was protesting.

"Aline, what could she possibly know about it? Have you seen her and Jordan, they're all over each other! She's not going to be Jon's surprise girlfriend." Jace was laughing.

"It's not funny Jace! There's something fishy going on! I know there is!" She must have stormed down the corridor as her footsteps faded into the distance. I jumped back from the door in surprise when Jace entered the bathroom. He looked just as surprised to see me there.

"You brought a swimming costume?" He asked, eyebrows raised as he closed the door behind him. I looked down at myself, immediately flushing.

"It's a bodysuit!" I defended it as I tried to cover myself. I backed my way over to the heater to try and reclaim my denim shorts and ended up burning my arse on the heater. I jumped forward, startled. Jace was pissing himself laughing. "It's not bloody funny." I grumbled, sitting myself down on the edge of the bath in an attempt to cool it down. He was still laughing at me, propping himself up against the sink.

"It's hilarious. Do you want to know something else hilarious? Aline is adamant, I mean 100% certain that there's something going on with you and Jon." He was laughing but I could tell he was doing his typical Jace behaviour of trying to pry.

"She said the same to me. She bumped into me on my way home one day. I'm assuming I must live near him because she was pretty annoyed about it." I told him.

"She's a little crazy. And you're on her radar. So I'd keep an eye out for her. She has a habit of making people's lives difficult." I took his advice seriously. I'd be definitely keeping an eye out. I couldn't be dealing with any Aline-caused stress. I deemed it enough time since I'd burnt my bum and decided to check on my shorts. I ran my hands over them and they were completely dry. Jace was watching me amused as I shoved one leg in, followed by the other. "Then again, you seem to be capable enough of making your life difficult all by yourself…" Jace commented. I shot him a look as I buttoned my shorts up. I gave myself a shake to adjust my clothes.

"I'm perfectly capable of keeping myself out of trouble, thank you." I smiled, as I hunted for where I'd put my kimono down.

"Says the girl who kissed Sebastian. Says the girl who has Jordan Kyle wrapped around her finger. Says the girl who just got changed in front of me." I looked at him open-mouthed.

"I'm not a slut." I grumbled, unimpressed by his implications. Jace looked taken aback.

"I didn't call you a slut! I'm just saying, we're all competitive guys. Well Jordan not so much _but_ Jordan very rarely puts himself in this situation." I laughed at what Jace was implying.

"Don't be so stupid." I laughed, finally finding my kimono. I went to leave the room but Jace held a hand up to stop me exiting.

"I'm not being stupid." He said calmly as he looked down at me. "I'm just making you aware of the situation. Gentleman that I am."

"Very kind of you. I think you're confusing me with someone else though." I skirted under his arm, heading towards the door. He beat me over to it, pressing his hand against it. I turned to face him, looking up at him confused.

"Will you just take the damned compliment?" His lips brushed past my hairline before he walked out into the hall. My head was a mess and I needed some more alcohol to be able to deal with this. What had he even meant? _I had zero clue._ I popped my head outside and Jordan wasn't stood with his bike. But then again, I hadn't been just ten minutes. Part of me felt nervous about staying here tonight, now that Simon had left. _I had to find Jordan._ I set about on a hunt for Jordan and it didn't take long to find him. He had made his way into the kitchen and was mixing drinks.

"Hello again! I thought I'd lost you!" He smiled.

"Not quite!" I laughed, sampling one of his drinks.

"I've got something else to show you." He held out his hand. I grabbed it once more allowing him to lead me out of a small door in the kitchen. "Jace thinks this door is locked." He laughed, shutting the door behind us. I was intrigued. If this was one of the rooms Jace locked up, I was intrigued to see what was behind it. It led to another swimming pool, this time indoors and it had a slide. _A. Slide._

"You couldn't have shown me this before I got dried, huh?" I joked.

"I had to try my luck with the lock first." He said wickedly. "Now, before I forget, there's something I need to do for you." He trailed off. He offered me a sip from his hipflask before taking a little sip himself. I could see in his eyes what he was going to do and I jumped out of the way.

"Don't throw me in!" I shrieked, darting out of the way. "Not yet!" Jordan looked at me intrigued. He looked at me even more suspiciously when I tried to wiggle out of my shorts. "Don't look at me like that, do you know how long these things take to dry?" He was sneaking up behind me ready to throw me in the pool. I'd just say managed to throw my shorts out of the way when Jordan grabbed me. He picked me up with ease and threw me into the water. This pool was even deeper than the one outside.

"You know what else this pool has? A wave function." Jordan seemed pleased with himself.

"Do not turn that on! I'll drown!" I laughed, having to already swim to stay afloat. Jordan was walking around the pool, looking at me in amusement. I'd stumbled across one of my rebellious ideas again. I wanted to go on the slide. I swam over to the steps and climbed out of the water. I skipped on over to the slide and started trying to scale it. The water proved difficult, making the steps somewhat slippery. Jordan was behind me, holding the base of my back as I scaled the steps.

"Uh Clary, dare I ask what happened to your uh – the top of your leg?" He mused as I sat myself at the top of the slide.

"I burnt it on a radiator trying to dry my shorts." I admitted before I tried to go down the slide. I kept getting stuck as the slide was completely dry. Jordan was quick to the task wetting the slide for me. I slid down it with ease and splashed back into the pool. "It's no fun when I'm in by myself." I groaned, floating on my back. Jordan grumbled and I could see him out of the corner of my eye stripping his t-shirt and jeans off. He finished his hipflask off before jumping into the pool. I tried not to keep my eyes trained in on him for too long. He swam over to me and I expected him to stop but he just kept coming towards me. I floated further backwards until I bumped into the poolside but he was still coming towards me. His body crashed against mine. I placed my hands on the sides of the pool behind me as Jordan wrapped his arms around my waist. There was no way I could keep myself afloat with him this close to me so I was forced to tangle my legs up with his to keep myself up. His lips found mine as his hands played with the material of my bodysuit, making butterflies tingle in my stomach and chest. His teeth nibbled against my bottom lip lightly as his hands found their way to my back and up to my hair. I moved my hands from the poolside behind me, playing with Jordan's dreadlocks. He stepped back from the poolside, my legs now wrapped around him. He kissed me once more lightly before propelling me up in the air, splashing me back down in the water. I giggled as he repeated his motion. I pressed my hands against his shoulders, forcing his head under the water for a few moments.

"Room for a couple of little ones?" A voice rang out, as we both turned to face the doorway.

 _ **Thank you for reading my stories. The response I've had for this story is really overwhelming! New update will be coming tomorrow & if you're lucky I may just give you guys another bumper chapter. **_

_**All of my love,**_

 _ **Until the next time!**_

 _ **~Sapph**_


	9. Chapter 9: Admissions

_**Thank you as always for your reviews. I appreciate every single one of you who takes the time to read and review my stories.**_

 _ **I'd just like to address something I'd read. It has come to my attention that some people think Clary is acting 'slutty'. Ultimately, Clary has just lost her father and her world is still spinning out of control. Let her live a little, let her make a few mistakes. She's only human after all.**_

Sebastian was stood in the doorway with Aline who had somehow switched her alliance from Jace to Sebastian. Jordan and I had drifted apart and Sebastian didn't wait for our answer. He started peeling back his clothes until he was in his underwear and dive bombed into the pool. Aline shimmied out of her dress until she was just in her bra and underwear. I diverted my eyes immediately feeling pretty uncomfortable. She slid into the pool, her neck sticking far out as she tried desperately not to wet her hair. Sebastian climbed back onto the side of the pool, diving in once more. The water went all over Aline, who seemed less than impressed.

"Sebastian, are you for real! Do you know how much my hair cost just for tonight? The chlorine is going to ruin it!" She was grumbling at him but he wasn't listening, he seemed far more interested with what Jordan and I were doing. He swam over to Jordan and they started dunking one another. Aline put her attention towards me. "Oh my god, did you see what that _**loser**_ Simon Lewis did earlier?" I turned to face her, attention peaked. "Oh, you're his friend aren't you?" She had a sly smile playing on her face and it may have been the alcohol talking, but I just wanted to wipe it off for her.

"What happened?" I asked simply, holding onto the poolside. _Lord restrain me if she'd had something to do with Simon having to leave._

"What didn't happen?" Aline seemed thrilled at the drama. "He threw up everywhere, all over this girl Rocco was getting with. Rocco called Simon's mother from his phone and told her that he'd been taking and selling drugs. She actually believed him! She got the bus over here and dragged him out of the house. Honestly it was hilarious." I turned my nose up at her. _How hilarious, getting someone in serious trouble with their parents. Over something so serious as drugs._ I tried my hardest to bite my tongue. But rebellious Clary won once more.

"Sounds like a pretty good summation for why you're such a bitch Aline." I said before I'd even thought about it. Even Sebastian and Jordan turned to look at me, Aline looked outraged. She looked over my shoulder, her eyes catching sight of Sebastian.

"Are you going to let her speak to me like this Sebastian?!" Aline protested, fire blazing in her eyes. Sebastian just shrugged. Out of options Aline lunged for me and before I had a chance to respond, Jordan pushed her back gently.

"Stop it Aline. This is meant to be a good atmosphere, stop trying to cause fights." Aline seemed appalled, she climbed out of the pool.

"I'm going to find Jace, he might be able to speak some sense into the pair of you. I can't believe you've both been manipulated by this harlot!" She looked at me angrily before storming out of the room in her bra and underwear. I started laughing immediately with both of the lads joining in my laughter.

"She's a little highly strung isn't she?" I commented as I swam over to where the stairs were, sitting myself down on them.

"Only when she's jealous." Sebastian said, raising his eyebrows. I was starting to feel mighty uncomfortable. As if to further my discomfort, Jace entered the room looking less than impressed.

"I have a few questions." He said, looking unimpressed. "1 – How did you get in here?" Jordan raised his hand, claiming responsibility. Jace nodded as though he'd expected it. "2 – Who upset Aline?" Now it was my turn to raise my hand, I looked away as I raised it. "Surprising. 3 – Where is Aline's dress?" Sebastian pointed to where it was as Jace scooped it up. "Stay put. I'll be back." We all looked at one another as Jace headed back up the stairs.

"Are we in trouble?" Jordan smirked at Sebastian who was climbing up the slide.

"I'll convince him to get in when he comes back down. He'll forget all about it." I was struggling in my head. Do I get out? Do I stay in? _Why was I so worried about what everyone else thought? It wasn't as though I was doing anything I shouldn't be? I was just in a swimming pool. But yet…I'd been kissed by Sebastian, I'd been kissed by Jordan and technically Jace had kissed my forehead – was I starting something here? What was I even doing?_ By the time I'd argued myself into getting out and staying put, Jace had come back into the room.

"Aline has just climbed into a taxi and gone home, apparently she's really upset and needs some time to herself." Jace informed us.

"She's upset?" I laughed loudly. Jace looked at me confused. "I'm a harlot." I said simply, lifting myself onto the poolside. The way they all looked at me in my bodysuit, I felt the urge to cover myself up. Jace sat next to me on the poolside as Sebastian and Jordan started dunking each other again.

"You know when I told you earlier about watching yourself with Aline? Don't think calling her a bitch was such a good idea." Jace commented. I nodded, in total agreement. I reached for a towel on the rack and dried myself down before pulling my denim shorts back on as I was starting to get cold. I could hear my phone ringing from my bag on the opposite side of the pool and immediately was confused. I didn't really get called much. Maybe it was Simon. By the time I'd made it over to my bag, it had stopped ringing and I didn't dare check it while all of the boys were milling around. A crash echoed above us and Jace immediately sprinted up the stairs muttering under his breath, Sebastian chased after him dripping water all over the floor. My phone started ringing again. I quickly grabbed my phone out of my bag and answered it.

"Hello?" I said, kicking myself for not checking the caller ID.

"Clary, what the hell is going on?" It was Jon and he seemed frantic. I could hear the panic in his voice, the way his breathing was loud and airy against the phone.

"What, what do you mean?" I was confused and concerned about what he meant, somehow making myself equally as frantic. My mind immediately jumped to the dangerous – _what if the house was on fire and he couldn't get out?_

"Aline is outside, shouting bloody murder to the street. Mum's out and I can't go out on my crutches Clary. I can't let her see me like this. No one can see me like this. What's happened at that party you're at? I'm sure she's mentioning your name."

"I may or may not have called her a bitch – she thinks me and you are involved. She's probably there trying to win you back from me." I spoke freely, completely forgetting that Jordan had yet to leave the room. If I had just turned my back, I would have seen the way he was looking at me, the confusion on his face. The way his eyes narrowed, the way his lip curled.

"Clary, you need to keep away from Aline. If you piss her off, she'll not rest until she digs something up on you, makes your life hell. You know what that means – she'll end up finding out about us." Jon sighed. "I'm going to have to call her and try and talk her down. See you later C." I was about to shout for him to ring me back and let me know what happened but he was already gone. As I put my phone back in my bag, I jumped out of my skin when Jordan cleared his throat. My heart sunk to the bottom of my feet as I span to face him. He had pulled himself up onto the side of the pool and was drying the ends of his dreadlocks.

"I'm not even sure if I want to ask what that was about." He said simply, suddenly a lot more sober, a solemn tone.

"Jordan – I totally forgot you were in the room. I-" I had no idea how I was going to talk my way out of this without telling the truth.

"Yeah – I could tell that. 'She's trying to win you back from me?'" He quoted, eyeing me suspiciously. I laughed nervously.

"You've got the wrong end of the stick, honestly. I was being sarcastic." He didn't seem to be buying what I was selling. He lifted himself to his feet as he grabbed for a towel and started to dry himself.

"It sounds like you have a complicated enough life without me making it harder for you." Jordan was starting to pull his jeans on. "It's obviously quite a complex relationship if you have to lie about knowing him." I'd flushed completely red. "I know it was Jon. I just didn't think Aline would have been right all along." He seemed downhearted. _I was going to have to tell him something._

"It's not what you think. At all!" I moved over to the other side of the pool as he was pulling his shirt on.

"I just feel stupid for letting my guard down." He shook his hair free from his t-shirt. I moved myself over to the doorway so that I was blocking his path.

"If I tell you this, you can't tell anyone Jordan. You have to promise me." I tried to plead with him. _I'd had such a nice time with him, I couldn't have him thinking so lowly of me._

"I don't really want to hear it." He tried to move past me. With one last look over my shoulder to make sure we were definitely alone, I blurted it out.

"He's my brother." I said in a frantic whisper. Jordan stopped in his tracks, looking at me in confusion.

"That's impossible. Jon doesn't have a sister." He shook his head.

"Ta-da." I said bleakly. Jordan pulled me over to the far side of the pool room to a side changing room, out of earshot.

"Why haven't you just told everyone? I don't get why it's something you have to hide."

"I used to live with my mom and then the accident happened. Dad passed away and Jon got injured. Jon's a lot more injured than people think and he doesn't want anyone to know. He doesn't want any visitors, he doesn't want any fuss. It just became easier for me to be Clary Fray, rather than Clary Morgenstern." Jordan was taking in everything I was saying in silence.

"That's really selfless." Jordan commented. "I don't think I could keep up that act. Especially around Jace and Sebastian."

"I try to stick with them to keep them away from Jon."

"How injured is he?"

"Really bad." I said meekly. It felt strange talking about this. "He can't walk."

"Ever again?"

"He'll walk again. It's just going to take some time."

"I feel horrible for going off at you there. I genuinely like you Clary but I don't want to push you into anything. I didn't realise how fresh everything still is for you. When you said your Dad had passed away, I didn't know you'd meant so recently, so suddenly…" He trailed off as I smiled weakly. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me in and holding me against his chest. I allowed myself to accept the warmth his cuddle was offering. He held me out at arm's length and looked down at me smiling. He kissed the top of my head lightly.

"We need to figure out a way of dealing with Aline."

 _ **Thank you for reading! Feel free to let me know what you think/what you would like to see below!**_

 _ **All of my love,**_

 _ **Until the next time!**_

 _ **~Sapph**_


	10. Chapter 10: Liars

_**Thank you all for your lovely reviews, you really lift my spirits!**_

"I just hope she's left Jon alone. He really wasn't comfortable with her being there. He's got enough on his plate at the minute without her causing bother in the streets." I was nervous. I didn't like the idea of her being there when Jon was all by himself.

"I can't begin to image what it feels like being a prisoner in your own home." Jordan commented, holding me close to him. I felt as though I hadn't had a drink at all tonight, I had completely sobered up.

"Aline just really needs to back off, it's hard enough to maintain this act without her meddling in everything." I shrugged Jordan off as I scoured through my bag for my phone. The nerves were getting too much, I needed an update on the situation. I dialled Jon back to get an update. It went straight through.

"Hey, everything alright?" I asked. His tone seemed calmer on the phone.

"Yeah, she's gone. Not without incident. She kicked and screamed a bit, she even punched the wall. I fell down but I managed to get myself back into bed." I didn't even know where to start.

"How did you fall down? Are you alright?" I asked, standing in the doorway. "Do you need me to come home?"

"Don't be silly C." Jon laughed. "She punched the wall next to the window and I got a fright in case she saw me, so I tried to hop out of bed and I just dropped out but I'm alright. It's not the first time I've ever fallen out of bed. I'm going to try and get some sleep though – don't worry about me."

"See you tomorrow." I promised.

"Suddenly, I don't feel like drinking anymore." Jordan remarked as I tucked my phone back into my bag.

"I couldn't agree more." I sighed. It was like the night had come to a standstill.

"I'm sure we can find something to do if we put our minds to it." Jordan held out his hand and I took it as we headed back to the kitchen. The kitchen was completely empty aside from one football player who was passed out on the breakfast bar. His face was covered in pen marks, his clothes covered in flour. We skirted past him and through the house. Sebastian and Jace were nowhere to be seen, Rocco the main entertainment in the hallway as he stripped atop a table. I kept my eyes trained in on the ground, still intimidated by him. We wandered for a while before we came across an unlocked study with a larger corner sofa. We quickly took over the room and lay on one side of the sofa each, our heads near one another. We just lay in silence for a while listening to the thumping bass below and the screams and chants of girls. I could have just fallen asleep until I realised -

"I'm starving." I commented about ten minutes later. Jordan shot up and I groaned as I realised it meant we were heading all the way **back** to the kitchen. As we were walking back down the stairs, we heard a familiar voice shouting. Aline was back and she had Jace and Sebastian hanging off her every word.

"He pushed me! Look at my hand!" Aline was crying, holding up her bleeding knuckles. Sebastian and Jace led her off as Jordan and I made a dash for the kitchen. Low and behold we wound up in the same place. Jace helped Aline over to the tap, running her knuckles under it as he kept a firm grip on her wrist.

"Dare I ask?" Jordan broke the silence. Aline turned to face him, tears in her eyes.

"I've been assaulted." She cried, wincing as the water washed her wounds.

"Who by?" Jordan questioned. I could feel my anger boiling. I knew she'd only been to try and see Jon and that she'd punched a wall. She couldn't possibly try and blame him.

"I don't want to say." She cried, hiding her eyes with her free hand.

"We can't help you if you don't tell us." Sebastian said, easily the drunkest. He had propped himself up on the breakfast bar and was drawing circles on the other footballer's forehead.

"I'm frightened." She sobbed.

"We'll look after you." Sebastian was playing into her hands. I looked right at him. He didn't even look as though he could look after himself, let alone anyone else.

"It was Jon." Aline stifled a sob. "He pushed me." I was barely keeping it together. I was trying my hardest to keep my mouth shut and I was just about to speak when –

"Why lie Aline?" Jordan spoke for me. We all turned our attention to him. She stopped crying, looking flabbergasted.

"How dare you!" Her pitch went off the charts.

"I know for a fact that Jon isn't even home." I felt nervous.

"How could you possibly?" Jace was outraged. How could Jordan know something he didn't?

"He's went to see his sister. My mum bumped into his mum at the store. He's went to stay with her and his grandparents before the funeral. He's just been in a car crash for god's sake, it would make sense that he wants to be surrounded by family." Aline looked furious but the boys seemed to buy it.

"He was saying that he missed her and hadn't seen her in a while." Jace mused.

"He was going to bring her to one of these parties if I remember." Sebastian added.

"Excuse me?!" Aline complained as the attention diverted away from her.

"Maybe he got home early?" Sebastian tried to please everyone.

"Or maybe – Aline is a liar." I blurted out. Jordan choked on a laugh next to me. Regardless how much I'd been warned away from aggravating Aline, I just couldn't help myself. I couldn't just stand by idly as she made Jon out to be a bully and a brute when he could barely even walk let alone assault someone. She swayed in my direction, clearly a lot drunker than I was.

"Where did you even come from? And why don't you just go back there?" Aline growled at me.

"Give up with the insults. Tell the truth for once." Jordan intervened on my behalf. Aline was about to bite back when Jace cut over her.

"Let's just call it a night on this. We'll agree to disagree for now." He held out his hand for Aline and she readily took it as they were followed by Sebastian.

"Why did you defend me?" I turned to Jordan. He hadn't only defended me, he'd lied for me.

"I really don't like Aline." He affirmed. "On the other hand, I really do like you." I flushed as I tried to conceal it with my hair. Once we'd made some half decent toast and devoured it, Jordan and I started our search for somewhere to sleep. He seemed to know the ins and outs of the house which said a lot about how many parties Jace had held. We kept on climbing until we were at the top of the house and walked as far back as the house would allow. Jordan opened the door for me. The room was huge but impersonal – clearly a guest room of some sort.

"Won't others come up here?" I queried. Jordan shook his head, jumping on the bed.

"Too far for those little drunks. They'll sleep where they fall. I'd put money on it." He patted the bed next to him. "What does tomorrow have in store for Clary?"

"Nothing." I laughed. "Although I should probably call in on Simon, make sure he's not in too much bother."

"Well, if you're free tomorrow morning, I would quite like to take you to breakfast." Jordan smiled. "If that's okay with you."

"I'll sleep on it." I smirked, lying on the bed. I closed my eyes but quickly opened them when I felt something covering me. Jordan was rolling me up in the blanket before he retrieved a second for himself.

"What are you doing?" I asked from my sausage fortress.

"We don't want anyone getting any ideas, should they stumble across here." I could feel myself tiring out as I succumbed to the warmth of my blanket.

 **Jace's PoV**

I'd managed to palm Aline off onto Sebastian which she seemed happy enough with as he was giving her plenty of attention. I was left with my own thoughts, thoughts about Jon. I really missed the fella. Yes, I had other friends and I had Sebastian but there was just something about Jon. A bond we had that was unshakeable. He even made my friendship better with Sebastian. Three peas in a pod and now he was gone, we were struggling.

 _Had he hurt Aline? How else had she hurt her hand like that? Why wouldn't he want to see her anyway? Before the crash they'd been quite loved up? What had changed?_

 _Was Jordan telling the truth? What reason did he have to lie?_

 _What role did Clary have to play in all of this? Why would she go to such lengths to defend someone she barely even knows?_

There were too many questions that needed answering. I'd had enough of partying for one night and decided to head up to bed. I could hear voices in the room next door and prayed that Sebastian and Aline hadn't found their way up here – I wanted to actually get some sleep after all. I waited for the voices to soften before I poked my head through the door. I could make out Jordan quite easily and then Clary lying next to him in a separate blanket, only her flaming hair visible. I closed the door and retreated into my own room. _What a bloody party._

 **Clary's PoV**

My throat was dry and burning when I woke up the next morning. I tried clearing it a few times before I tried to get out of bed. My sausage wrap made it particularly difficult as I fell to the floor with a _flump._ I wiggled around for a few moments, trying to free myself but stopped as soon as I heard Jordan dying laughing.

"Do you fancy giving me a hand?" I asked him, facing the ceiling. He was propped on his knees on the bed, looking down at me, laughing.

"I'm quite enjoying watching you struggle." He teased. I tried wiggling again but I was getting nowhere.

"Please!" I protested.

"And beg." He was laughing lightly.

"Jordan!" I shouted, kicking the floor at the same time. He laughed as he climbed off the bed. He was just about to unleash me from my prison when the door burst open, Jace standing there in a pair of pyjama bottoms. I was looking at him upside down from the way I was lying but I could make out the look of concern and confusion quite easily.

"Sorry, I thought I heard something smash." He quickly backtracked.

"It was just me. I rolled off the bed." I informed him. Jordan untucked the blanket around me and finally I was free. My feet felt unsteady when I finally climbed onto them. Jace seemed awkward in the door and when I looked back, he had wandered back to his own room.

"So, breakfast?" Jordan asked, making the bed. I looked down at myself, there was no way I could go out to breakfast looking like this. "Don't worry, remember that t-shirt I gave you that you never changed into?" He produced the t-shirt from the bedside cabinet. I happily took it from him and put it on over my bodysuit. I tucked the shirt into my shorts and made it look somewhat decent, considering it was quite big on me. Getting out of the house was quite a chore, bodies strewn everywhere. Jordan seemed relieved that his bike was still waiting for him outside. I felt a bit sick at the thought of riding it again. "Don't worry, we're not going far." He reassured me. I grabbed the helmet from him and jammed it onto my head before climbing on behind him. I wrapped my arms around his chest as he prepared the bike. I looked back at the house before we left the driveway and was sure I saw Jace looking out at us.

 _ **Thank you for reading! Feel free to let me know what you thought!**_

 _ **All of my love,**_

 _ **Until the next time!**_

 _ **~Sapph**_


	11. Chapter 11: Close Call

_**Thank you for reading! I'm really feeling this story at the moment. Got loads of ideas! Hope you're enjoying reading as much as I am writing.**_

 _ **Just to address a couple of things I have seen floating around in reviews – I'm not 100% sure how this is going to end up yet. I'm sure there will be some Clace at some point but I'm just letting the story come out as it may.**_

Jordan pulled up to a little café about five minutes away from Jace's house. He parked his bike outside before helping me climb off. There was no one in the café so Jordan and I headed straight for a booth. Jordan picked out something full of meat while I opted for pancakes. We had a good chat over breakfast that mainly consisted of talking about the party, Aline and school. Jordan was careful not to pry too much into the Jon business. Once we were finished and I finally convinced Jordan to let me pay my share, he was good enough to drop me off at Simon's. I knocked lightly on Simon's door, his mother answered. Her face was like thunder but when she saw me she toned it down a little.

"Oh Clarissa, how lovely to see you. How are you, how's your mum? Is your brother okay?" She questioned me at length as she let me into the house. I followed her through into the living room, there was no sign of Simon.

"Everyone's as well as we can be." I smiled and she smiled back at me, understandingly. "I'm actually here for Simon. I heard something a little unsettling and thought I'd come and see if he was alright?" Her face turned sharp once more as her eyes flickered briefly to the ceiling.

"Horrible business. He's grounded Clary. Indefinitely. You wouldn't believe me if I told you. How he even ended up at that party, I do not know."

"I invited him and I was with him Mrs Lewis. He didn't do anything wrong. I was with him for most of the night. You know Simon, he wouldn't do anything he shouldn't be doing." She seemed to sum up what I was saying and let me go and see Simon in his room. Progress at least. He looked horrible. I sat myself on the edge of his bed, and patted his legs. "Feeling rough are we?"

"You could say that. I don't know what's hit me more, the alcohol or mum's tongue lashing. How was the party?" Simon sat himself up so that his back was propped against the headboard.

"Well, you didn't miss much. Although I had to tell Jordan about Jon." I informed Simon about everything that had went on from Jordan hearing me on the phone to Aline saying Jon had assaulted her. Simon looked blown away and questioned me at length. I was going to ask Simon if he wanted to go out tonight but he nipped it in the bud by telling me that he needed to keep in his mum's good books and that meant making dinner for her later. After having a chat about trivial stuff, I left his house and had a slow walk back to my own. I was extra cautious to make sure no one was hanging around before I let myself in. I must have walked around the house two or three times before I actually entered. I wasn't quite ready for another drama with Aline. Once I determined that the coast was clear, I quickly let myself in and shut the door behind me, locking it.

"Who's there?" Jon shouted from his bedroom, sounding quite panicked.

"Don't worry, just me." I called back, and I was sure I heard him breathe a sigh of relief. I put the keys next to the door and kicked off my shoes before I went into his bedroom.

"How was the party?" I told him all about it, minus the stuff with Aline. _I couldn't tell him that I'd told Jordan or that Aline had been making up lies. Not yet. He wasn't in the right state of mind._ I didn't want to worry him about it or make him feel on edge. It just didn't feel like the right time to tell him.

When I woke up for school the next morning, I really couldn't be bothered. I sluggishly climbed out of bed and spent a lot longer in the bathroom than I should have. I dressed myself in a pair of light jeans and a plain white t-shirt. As though Aline had had an effect on me, I left out of the back door – just to be safe. I must have been in a daydream walking to school as by the time I got there, Jace and Sebastian were already in form. I sat myself down at the table in silence, resting my head on my hands, I was ready to go home already. Sebastian immediately zeroed in on me, something baying on his mind.

"So – are you and Jordan an item then?" He asked out of nowhere. Lily couldn't believe the drama that was unfolding in front of her.

"No, we're friends." _I was not getting into this with Sebastian. Not here and not now._ Sebastian nodded at me before turning back to his conversation with Jace. I thought I'd made it out of form class unscathed until I received a message from Lily in the group chat.

 **Lily: Right. Now that that party is out of the way we can actually get down to some studying. Where are we meeting? I have so many ideas and we need to get them down otherwise we're not going to finish this project. I'll ask again – where are we meeting?**

 **Jace: Not at my house, not this time.**

 **Clary: Not at my house.**

 **Sebastian: Not mine either.**

 **Lily: Ugh well we can't study at mine! Java Jones it is then, since you leave me no other option.**

 **Jace: In public?**

 **Lily: Get over it Jace. We'll all meet there after school. Immediately after school.**

 **Jace: Okay boss.**

 **Sebastian: Fine.**

 **Clary: See you there.**

I arrived at Java Jones first. The place was practically empty so I seized a booth with plenty of room, just opposite the bar. Jace was the first one into the café. He was dressed in sportswear, his hair windswept back from his face. He quickly spotted me and swaggered over to the table.

"We need to stop meeting like this." He joked, sliding into the opposite side of the booth. I was just about to respond when I heard my name called.

"Clary!" It was my mum. She was stood at the till, waving at me energetically. Jace turned around to look at her and I couldn't tell whose face fell further between the three of us. Jace's face quickly turned to a look of amusement as though he'd cracked something. My mum made her way over to the table, hopefully to try and resolve matters. Jace was looking at me very carefully. "Jace! I didn't know you two knew each other."

"Funny – I was thinking the same thing." Jace said slowly, unsure what was going on but clearly thriving on the tension. My mum didn't bat an eyelid and I was just praying she could remember the conversation we'd had a few days passed. _Don't drop me in it. Please don't drop me in it._

"Me and Clary's mum are really good friends." She smiled at me. "Clary and Jon knew each other when they were really little, I had no idea you'd moved back into town! You should pop around for a coffee one time Clary – bring your mum. Catch you kids later." I couldn't believe how well my Mum had sold it. Who knew she was such a good liar? Jace span to look at me as soon as Mum had left.

"I thought you said you didn't know Jon?" He questioned.

"I don't." I tried to act along. "I knew him when we were little, I don't know him now." I shrugged.

"You seemed quite shocked when she came over here." Jace probed further.

"I was surprised actually." I said. "Surprised that she remembered me and surprised that I still look the same as when I was tiny." Jace laughed and I was praying that I'd closed the book on this.

"It's got to be the hair." He joked. "Ah buggar, I should have asked her about Jon really shouldn't I? Or how she was feeling?" Jace thought out loud. "Anyway – do you want something to drink? God knows how long we'll be waiting for those two – I'm starting to think they're having an affair or something." He teased.

"I'll come with you." I smiled, grabbing my purse from my bag and following him to the till.

"You know, any other girl would just let me pay for it." Jace said as we read the board.

"Hmm, but then that means I owe you, and I don't really do owing people." I smiled, deciding on a frappe. Jace pouted, following me to the cashier. The barista handed me my frappe first and told Jace that he would give him a shout when his was ready. Jace looked over to the doorway as someone entered but it wasn't who we were waiting for.

"She sends you a message saying 'immediately' and then takes a millennium." Jace ranted as I sipped my frappe. "You wouldn't think we had lives. Someone else needs to take charge of these study sessions because Lily is just about doing my wick's end in."

"I didn't realise men suffered from PMS." I said in a blasé fashion. Jace shot me a look before squeezing my cup, frappe quickly filling my mouth and making me cough. Jace's hand patted me on the back firmly until I stopped coughing. "Unnecessary!" I protested once I'd caught my breath.

"You insulted my masculinity. It was by all means necessary." Jace laughed as the barista called him to the counter. Just as he hopped out of the booth, Lily entered looking relatively flustered. She stomped over to the booth just as Jace sat himself back down. Throwing her bags under the table, she huffed into her seat, muttering under her breath.

"I can't believe him. I **cannot** believe him." She was tittering to herself.

"Is he not coming?" I asked, chewing my straw.

"Oh he's coming alright." Lily got to her feet and approached the bar, she turned to look at us sharply. "He's just not coming alone." As though summoned by her words, the door opened, Sebastian leading Aline through. I rolled my eyes and became extremely interested in my drink. I was glad that Lily thought the same as I did, even if it was just because Aline was ruining her study group plans. Sebastian went to the bar as Aline squeezed herself in next to Jace forcing him further along the couch in my direction. Lily squeezed back in on the other side making it impossible for me to move any further in any direction.

"Don't you have your own group, Aline?" Lily was quick to the punch as she unpacked her bag. Aline rolled her eyes in an exaggerated manner.

"Very mouthy aren't we?" Aline had smug smile on her face. "I'd watch your tone if I was you." Lily was surprising me, not taking any of Aline's jibes.

"You're a bully Aline and you have zero purpose being here." Sebastian had come back to the table and was sliding the drinks onto the table as he looked at everyone.

"What's going on then?" He asked, as he moved in next to Aline.

"We're just talking about how much of a crush Lily has on you, Seb." Aline giggled wildly as Lily's face fell. As quick as the Flash, she grabbed her stuff and ran out of the cafe, embarrassed. Aline was killing herself laughing, Sebastian laughed nervously as Jace and I just sat back.

"That was cruel." I said honestly, Aline now zeroing on me.

"You know what's cruel Clairey? Is it?"

"Clary." I clarified.

"Mocking someone who had just been assaulted." _Back to this again._

"Still sticking with that story?"

"The truth!" She grumped. Sebastian and Jace were just sat in the middle, clearly uncomfortable.

"I can see that we aren't going to get anywhere with this project today." I concluded, grabbing my bag, getting ready to leave.

"Clary, wait." Jace said quietly but I'd already made up my mind. I left without saying goodbye.

 **Jace's POV**

"Clary, wait." I said but her face had hardened. Throwing her bag over her shoulder, she stomped from the café without another word. I turned to face Aline who was looking very pleased with herself.

"Was there really any point in all that?" I asked her, sipping my coffee which had cooled adequately. She flicked her hair over her shoulder.

"I didn't do anything wrong Jace, she just has a problem with me because she's up to something with Jon and she **knows** how involved we were." Aline said. Sebastian was messing around with the cream atop his hot chocolate. I almost told them about seeing Jon's Mum but decided that informing her of any connection between Jon and Clary would just cause more issues. I quickly finished my drink off, before getting to my feet also.

"Where are you going?" Sebastian asked, confused.

"Well, there's no point in me third wheeling if we're not actually doing any work. Enjoy." I said, heading out of the door and to my car across the road. Just as I was about to pull away, Aline left the café and sauntered down the street. _What was she playing at?_

 _ **Thank you for reading!**_

 _ **All of my love,**_

 _ **Until the next time!**_

 _ **~Sapph**_


	12. Chapter 12: Guilt

**I would just like to start by apologising! I am so sorry that I have seemingly neglected all of my stories. I've been moving house and my stuff is here, there and everywhere. I misplaced all my notes and I've just generally had a little bit of a nightmare! But enough of that – let's** _ **finally**_ **get back to the task at hand.**

I had just about made it to my street when I heard a car horn beeping behind me. I turned, anxiously, to see Jace pulling over to the curb. I tried to maintain face as his car pulled to a stop. He wound the window down, leaning over towards it.

"Are you alright?" He asked and I nodded, tucking my hair behind my ear.

"I'm fine, I just have a very low tolerance where she is concerned. Not sure if you've noticed." I smiled lightly. Jace returned it.

"I was thinking that we could go and work on this project a little bit, have something to feedback to Lily tomorrow – y'know seeing as Aline just mortified her back there."

"How thoughtful of you." I teased.

"I'm not going to offer again." He teased back, winding his window back up ever so slowly. I sighed. I could hardly go into my own house with him lurking around and I did feel bad for Lily. I grabbed the door to the passenger side, and climbed into the car, placing my bag in between my ankles. "I knew you'd see things my way." He flashed me a grin as he pulled away. After a few minutes had passed, Jace finally spoke. "So, you and Jon – how young are we talking here?" _Back to this again._

I shrugged, trying to think on my feet. _I had to make something up that was believable, something that I could remember should I ever be asked again. Play it vague Clary_. "I'm not sure. Young though. I only have a few memories. I doubt I'd even be able to point him out in the street if I saw him. What he's going through now though, is so similar to what I've been through. Even if I didn't know him, I'd still feel for him. You don't wish that on anybody." Jace was nodding along to everything I said. I decided to turn the attention away from Jon, Aline seemed like the obvious topic of conversation. "Surely you and Sebastian have to be clued up to the game that Aline is trying to play. It's glaringly obvious."

"There's a certain way that school works Clary. Everyone falls into a natural group, regardless of labels. Aline, Sebastian, Jon, myself – we're all very inside people, whether we like it that way or not. It comes with the territory of playing football and cheerleading. Everyone knows your business, everyone wants to be in your business. Sometimes I don't want it to be like that, other times I couldn't imagine it any other way. Your friend Simon and even Jordan to an extent are the opposite – outside people. But that's not a bad thing. Jordan loves being on the outside, I think he'd combust if it was any other way."

"And what am I?"

"What do you want to be?"

"Clary." I shrugged as we waited at lights.

"Then be Clary then."

"I'm trying to be, I just keep finding myself thinking that I don't even know what that means anymore." I trailed off, diverting my attention out of the window. After a few minutes of silence, I changed the subject. "Where are we even going?"

"That would be telling." He mocked as we drove through countryside.

"You're not taking me away to kill me, are you?"

"Don't tempt me." He flashed me a devilish grin. I rolled my eyes at him as he pulled up at a little cottage.

"Now, who lives here then?" I followed him from the car and over to the cottage. He didn't respond to me straight away as he patted around the floor for a good ten minutes, looking for something. He eventually picked up a rock, holding it up victoriously before opening it and retrieving a key from inside it, which he let himself in with. The inside of the house was bare aside from basic furnishings.

"This belongs to my parents. It's their downtime place. A way to get away from the hustle and bustle. To get back down to the simpler things in life. They don't know that I know about it. They certainly don't know that I have my own key cut." I tutted at him as he pulled the chairs out from the table. He collected up some pieces of paper and pens, scattering them on the table. "I thought it would be a nice place to just sit and have a think." He must have seen the apprehensive look on my face. "Don't worry. Aline isn't hiding anywhere." I sat myself down at the table, placing my bag over the back of the chair. As we were jotting down some ideas for articles we would feel comfortable writing, I could feel Jace wanted to ask something. His mouth was twitching every now and then as he tried to figure out his wording. "So –" He said, before going silent.

"So." I repeated.

"You and Jordan then." I rolled my eyes, dropping my pen on the paper and crossing my arms. Jace was taking a sip of his water to cover his awkwardness.

"You know what it is." I rambled. "You kiss a guy once and the whole world acts as though it's the sex scandal of the year." Jace nearly spat his water out. "We kissed. Wow. If we're judging the rest of you by the same standards then you must be in a relationship with half the school." Jace held a hand to his chest looking pained. He eventually cracked into a smile.

"The attractive half though."

"Whatever you say." I smiled, getting back to my piece of paper.

"I doubt Jordan will be happy when he hears that I've had you out here all to myself." He teased. I looked up at him, firmly.

"Are we here to work or discuss my love life?" Jace broke into smile.

"I was hoping a little bit of both."

"Are you going to write an article on my love life for the paper?"

"Maybe, will you give me an exclusive?" I could tell that he was flirting.

"Why don't we write it on yours instead? I'm sure the school would much rather hear of your escapades."

"I can see it now." He held his hands out dramatically in front of him. "SPORTS SUPERSTAR WOOS FLAME-HAIRED VIXEN."

"Let me correct that for you. SPORTS SUPERSTAR AND CHEERLEADING CHAMPION ANNOUNCE EXCLUSIVITY." Jace looked at me through narrowed eyes.

"Do you really think I'd get with Aline?"

"Why wouldn't you?" I asked, my pen now laying discarded.

"Before the accident, she was dating Jon, Clary." Jace said, simply. "Y'know – my best friend, Jon."

"So?" I pushed further. Jace looked flabbergasted.

"So, he's my best friend." Jace took a breath. "And even if he doesn't want to see me right now, I'm not going to betray his trust by getting with his girlfriend." _I was taken aback. Jace clearly had morals and he clearly cared about Jon._

"That's pretty decent of you." I commented. "It's a shame that Aline doesn't share the same morals."

"Aline is out for what she thinks is best for her and that's her dream of maintaining her status and popularity. If she wants to do that, then so be it – but I'm not going to take a role in it. I just play along to an extent, enough to keep the peace." Jace shrugged. "Jon could have done better anyway and I'm sure he will when he comes back."

"Who knows?" I picked up my pen and started jotting down ideas.

"Is now a bad time to ask you if you're free this Friday?"

"Not another party." I sighed, as Jace laughed.

"No – a football game."

"Oh." I mouthed, dropping my pen once more. _I had to admit, I was surprised. I hadn't attended any of Jon's football games and I suddenly felt terrible. I should have seen him doing what he loved._ "Is it just at school?"

"Yeah, it's our first game of the season. I'm sure Jordan would go with you if you asked, or maybe Loser Lewis." I shot him a look. "Sorry, I mean – Simon."

"Better. I'll think about it."

When Jace and I had come up with adequate ideas to present to Lily, I got him to drop me off a few blocks away from my house. He'd decided to give me the papers to give to Lily, something to do with his reputation. I walked around the block a few times making sure that he'd definitely moved on, before I let myself into the house. Jon was standing in the hallway, crutches under either arm as he inched his way towards the kitchen. I closed the door over quietly so not to disturb his efforts. He was grunting with effort as he struggled along the corridor, but he was making progress and he was nearly at the kitchen door. Then he made a misstep and fell against the wall, I darted behind him trying to help him to his feet. He shouted in aggravation, pushing the crutch into the hallway wall.

"Woah, calm down Hulk." I helped him back up to a standing position, so that his body weight was resting on the crutches once more. "Maybe you bit off a little bit more than you could chew."

"I'm just _**tired**_ of sitting around, I want to be on my feet **now**. I want to go back to school. I want to play football again. I just want to be **normal!** " Jon shouted.

"I know, but you need to take it slow…" I tried to be understanding.

"No! You don't know! It's my legs that have been crushed! It's me who had to sit there as Dad died! And I couldn't do anything about it! You have **no** idea what that's like!" He growled, tears coursing down his cheeks. His words hurt, of course they did. But he was right – I had no idea how bad he had it. There I was enjoying parties, getting involved in school – and Jon was practically bed ridden with nothing to do all day but listen to his own thoughts, relive the accident, relive Dad's death. Jon must have seen the look on my face as he instantly backtracked. "Clary, I'm so sorry. I'm really frustrated. I shouldn't have taken that out on you."

"It's okay. You're right." I muttered, trying not to let my emotion show on my face.

"Clary, I didn't mean it."

"I know."

When I went to bed that night, I heard nothing but those words. I couldn't sleep for them, they resounded in my head. I'd never felt further from my Father and I couldn't fight the fear that when I closed my eyes, he'd be there before me, wanting answers that I could never possibly give. After a rough night of no sleep, I headed down to breakfast early and couldn't hide my relief that my mother and Jon were still tucked up in bed. I made myself a strong coffee and drank it whilst it was still boiling, my tongue losing all sense of taste. I heard my mum stirring above me and crept out of the backdoor, beginning a slow walk to school. The cold air snagged at my tear-soaked face. I wrapped my scarf tighter around my mouth after wiping my eyes on it. I was the first one to form class, which was unsurprising. I shoved my headphones into my ears, pulling out a piece of card from my folder and doodling on it, mindlessly. I nearly leapt out of my skin when someone tapped my shoulder. It was just Simon.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked as soon as he saw my face.

"Nothing, just all this stuff with my Dad. I'm having one of those days." I shrugged, burying my head back into the desk in fear of tears making a reappearance. Simon patted my shoulder reassuringly.

"If you need me, you've got my number yeah?" I nodded as he headed over to his own table as the room started to fill up. Jace and Sebastian followed up the rear, with Aline and her posse in tow. Both of the boys took their seats and conversed between themselves, only stopping to speak to me when they wanted to know something.

"Where's Lily?" Sebastian asked me. I looked up.

"How should I know?" I muttered quickly before I looked back down at my papers.

"Hey – is something up?" Jace questioned. I shook my head, my hair falling over either side of my face. The pair of them just kept questioning me the entirety of the lesson. _I couldn't do this. Not today. I needed to get out of here._ The moment the bell rang, I escaped from my desk and the concerned stares of Sebastian and Jace. I walked as fast as I could muster down the corridor and out of the front doors. I darted around the building until I was sure that I was out of view. I let out a gasp of air and the tears just kept on coming. My body shook with each wave as I moved closer to the wall and further from view.

"Clary?" I heard someone say. I tried to wipe the tears from my face with the back of my sleeve as quickly as possible. "Clary, what's happened?" A strong arm wrapped around my shoulder, pulling me in and holding me close. Any attempt to conserve myself went out the window as I cried like a baby into the leather of Jordan's jacket. He let me get it all out of my system before holding me at arm's length. "What happened? Tell me." I told him all about it, glad that I had Jordan to confide in. He listened, taking it all in. "How about we get out of here?" He suggested finally, and his words were music to my ears.

"Please." Jordan skirted me around the edge of the school, around to the car park where his motorbike stood. I grabbed the helmet from his outstretched hands, jamming it eagerly onto my head. _I just needed to get out of here. Anywhere!_ Jordan took off faster than the last time I'd been astride his bike and I felt a sudden rush in my chest, a sudden burn that rivalled the pain that I was feeling. The adrenaline was coursing through my veins, as I willed Jordan in my head to go faster. My hands gripped tightly around his middle as I thrived on this feeling that pulled me from my grief. Jordan must have understood my actions as he took us to open country, driving faster than I even thought possible. When we stopped in the middle of the country, I wanted a turn. I wanted to try it, by myself. Jordan helped me off the bike as we sat down on the side of the road, on the grass.

"Can I have a go?" I asked, picking at the grass.

"I don't think that's wise Clary. The way you're feeling, you could hurt yourself. But, I'm not against showing you another day." I nodded along. He was right.

"I just feel so lost." I grumbled, pulling at the grass under my legs. Jordan checked the grass behind him before laying down on it.

"You just need to get all of your grief out. Has there even been a funeral yet?" Jordan asked.

"Yes, a private one. Family only." I tried to cast it from my mind, remembering it would only make me worse.

"Have you been to your Father's grave recently?" I shook my head. I couldn't face him. I wouldn't know what to say to him.

"I don't think he'd want me there." I breathed shakily, trying not to cry. Jordan resumed a sitting position.

"Clary – why would you say that?" He placed his arm across my shoulders. "He was your Dad, I bet he adored you."

"I chose my mum over him. I didn't get to tell him I loved him before he died. I didn't deserve him." I rambled through tears. Jordan pulled me into his chest, smoothing down my hair. My chest was pounding as he shushed me.

"You're grieving Clary, all of these feelings are normal." Jordan reassured me. "Anyone telling you otherwise is lying."

After I'd exhausted myself crying, Jordan helped me onto the back of his bike. Part of me assumed that we were headed back to school, but that wasn't the case. Jordan pulled up outside of a house that looked quite similar to my own. It wasn't huge like Sebastian's or gigantic like Jace's but it looked more like a home to me. I followed him over to the doorstep as he let himself in. He stood on the other side of the threshold.

"You can come in, you know." Jordan smiled as I crossed over into the house. "It's not much, but its home."

"I think it's great. Is it just you and your mum?" I asked, Jordan nodded as he headed into the kitchen.

"Yup, Mum works three jobs though so I don't see very much of her. It's like having my own place really." He poured out 2 glasses of juice before he led me into the living room. It was small but homely. Jordan's mum must have been one hell of a woman to hold down three jobs and keep her house this on point. Just as I sat myself down on the sofa next to Jordan, my phone vibrated in my pocket.

 **Jace: Lily? Clary? – Are we working on the project tonight? Just with you both doing disappearing acts today.**

 **Sebastian: If you don't want to though – that's completely cool with me!**

I decided not to answer but instead wait for Lily to reply. I was more interested in what she had to say than anyone else.

"Are you going to be stolen away from me for another study session?" Jordan smirked, lifting his glass to his lips.

"I can't see that happening with Lily." I shook my head.

"Enlighten me." Jordan reclined, flicking the tv between channels. I told Jordan all about Lily's apparent crush on Sebastian, and Aline's less than delicate way of announcing it. "Aline has always had a way with words." I was about to respond when my phone pinged again, I looked at it, anticipating seeing Lily's reply.

 **Jace: Hello? Ladies? Do I have to go and report to form that neither of you are willing to work on this project?**

 **Lily: Not tonight.**

Lily's response said it all. She was clearly still feeling the sting of Aline's words, the embarrassment of being outed in front of Sebastian.

 **Jace: Clary?**

 **Clary: Three's a crowd. I'll let you two get back to your special time together.**

 **Jace: Seriously though, are you okay?**

 **Clary: Fine thanks. See you tomorrow.**

"Is this the part where you say goodbye?" Jordan had finally decided upon a tv show, something mundane. I put my phone back into my bag.

"Nah, I'm good to hang around a little longer."

"Final answer?"

"Final answer."

When I got home that afternoon, Jon was waiting up for me. I tried to smile at him and head up the stairs, but he called my name and I felt inclined to head back into his room.

"What's up?" I tried to play it natural.

"We need to talk about yesterday, and we need to talk about Jace and Sebastian."

"What about it?" I shrugged, I didn't want to make a big deal of this here and now.

"Yesterday I –"

"I know, I get it." I rushed. He looked at me, sighing.

"Please Clary, let me speak." He smiled, weakly. "I need to apologise to you. It was out of line, so out of line. I don't care how much pain I was in or what was running through my mind, I never should have spoken to you like that. I really hope you accept my apology." I nodded, giving him a hug.

"You're already forgiven." I smiled against his shoulder.

"Now for the second thing. If this Jace and Sebastian deal is affecting you – I need you to tell me. I'd rather have to deal with them harassing me than having you lie for me."

"It's fine. I can handle it." I admitted.

"The moment that you can't though – please, tell me."

I went to bed that night feeling rejuvenated. As soon as my head touched the pillow, I fell into a deep sleep. Maybe too good of a sleep. I awoke to my Mum screaming my name, shouting that I was going to be late.

 **Thank you to everyone who takes out the time to read and review!**

 **All of my love,**

 **Until the next time.**

 **~Sapph**


	13. Chapter 13: Introductions

**Thank you to everyone who reads these stories and those especially who take their time to review!**

 **I've hit a bit of a creative block recently and I've started a 1000 themes challenge to try and keep my writer's block at bay. Hopefully by writing under those themes, I should be able to keep this story and my other stories ticking on. Feel free to check it out and let me know what you think!**

 _I was lying on my bed, sun shining through the window and blinding me. I tried to cover them with the blanket but it was caught on something, making it impossible for me to drag it over to me. I groaned, rolling over to see what it was that was stopping me from warming myself. A body was lying next to me, facing away. I tapped the bare shoulder in front of me and felt my heart race in my chest as Jace span to face me, looking at my lips longingly. His hair was in his face, his eyes looking at me desperately. I pushed myself away from him in the bed, only to come crashing into another firm chest. Jordan was lying behind me, his hands adventuring up my abdomen as Jace closed in on me from the front._

I woke up in a hot sweat and took myself off for a quick shower before the school day began. _What on earth had come over me? Why was I having dreams like that?_

I came home from school on Thursday, knowing that I had to speak to Jon. I knocked on his door lightly and it pushed itself open. I smiled to myself when I saw him walking on his crutches. It was the best attempt I'd seen him do yet and I was enjoying just watching him. He was so determined.

"Hey C – what's up?" He smiled, making his way over to the bed and sitting down, casting his crutches aside.

"Don't stop on my account." I said quickly, as he rested them against the sideboard.

"It's alright." He shook his head. "I've been practicing for a while already." He patted the bed next to him. "Sit, I can tell you want to talk to me."

"It's about Jordan – and Jace." I admitted. Jon immediately tensed up.

"Uh – I'm not sure if I'm the right person to be advising you here." He looked nervous, suddenly backtracking on his offer. "Do you not have any girl friends? Surely they would be better suited-"

"It's nothing like that." I reassured. "I feel like they want something from me and I feel out of my depth." Jon released a wave of air that he had been building up, probably glad that I wasn't trying to have some sort of sex talk with him – as if I would!

"They're both my friends – but you have to be careful Clary. You have to protect your heart. Jace, well is Jace. I've never seen him in a proper relationship, I'm not even sure he's capable of one. As for Jordan, he's fresh out of a relationship, and quite a serious one at that." Jon informed me, much to my surprise.

"Is he?"

"Oh yes. Jordan and Maia had been going out for about a year. They were pretty serious about one another. Then Maia went off the rails. Her mum died and it really messed her up. She got taken into a foster home and started acting out. They finished pretty quickly after that but I'm sure he still has some level of feelings for her. Hence why I want you to be careful. I don't want him to see you as a rebound. You're worth more than that. By a long mile."

If my talk with Jon had given me anything, it was patience. He had taught me more than anything that I barely knew these people. I had zero idea that Jordan had been in such a serious relationship or that it had come to such a nasty end. I was going to take my time. There was no need to rush.

I took Jon's advice when it came to dressing for the football game come Friday. He told me to dress nice and warm so I took him up on it. I dressed myself in a pair of tights underneath my washed out skinny jeans, a vest top underneath a jumper underneath a hoody paired with a scarf and a fluffy pair of gloves with matching hat. Jon seemed impressed by my effort.

"I'm sorry Jon." I admitted, as I was trying to pull my boots on over the top of my fluffy socks. He looked at me confused as he sat on the edge of his bed, curling weights. He'd been trying to maintain his upper body strength.

"Whatever for?" I focussed on my shoes as I felt myself getting a little upset.

"For not coming to any of your games. I should have." Jon laughed.

"You'll just have to come to my games in the future." He winked at me and I was pleased he was being optimistic.

"I wish you could come with me." I frowned as I stood up. He smiled at me earnestly.

I met Simon at the school half an hour later. He was also dressed for the cold, an Ewok hat adorning his head.

"Go team!" He shouted as I walked up to him, causing a couple of younger students to give him a strange look. I laughed, linking arms with him as we followed the crowd towards the field. I had zero clue what I was doing or where I was going once we reached the stands and Simon was exactly the same.

"Do you just sit where you want?" I muttered quietly as we found ourselves at the end of a row. Simon cast a look at other people who seemed to be sitting where they wanted. He shrugged before leading me down the row, and sitting at the very end of it. The seats were cold and I was thankful for my many layers. I hoped the game would be easy to follow or at least over quickly.

Just as the game was about to get underway, I caught sight of Aline and her little group standing on the edge of the field, dressed in tight fitting cheerleading outfits. She caught sight of me and Simon and made it quite obvious that she was discussing us. Her attention was only diverted when the football players made their way to the field.

The game was quite confusing to follow and I based a lot of my reactions on the crowd around me rather than what I was actually seeing. I think I would have enjoyed it more had Jon actually been playing. The game finished on a high and I assumed that our team had won as the football players and the cheerleading squad came together, cheering loudly. Simon and I funnelled out with the rest of the crowd, unsure of what to do now. Sure Jace had invited me to watch him play, and I'd done just that. I didn't want to hang around and make myself look desperate or just dump Simon.

"What do you want to do now?" Simon asked, hands stuffed into his pockets to savour warmth.

"How about we grab a bite to eat? It's still relatively early." I suggested. Simon smiled at me enthusiastically.

"You don't have to ask me twice!" He laughed, linking up with me and pulling me along after him. "My two favourite things - spending time with you and eating!" I laughed along. Just as we were heading away from the school, I heard my name being called behind me. I turned my head to catch a glimpse of Jace running in my direction, still fully kitted in his football uniform. I indicated 'two minutes' to Simon before unlinking my arm from his and walking a few metres to meet Jace.

"You came." Jace laughed, slightly out of breath. I smiled, rubbing my gloved hands together.

"I came, I'm not sure what I saw though really." I admitted. "It's confusing."

"I could explain it to you one time." Jace offered, helmet in hand. "Me and a couple of others are going out for a bite to eat, I thought maybe you'd want to tag along?" I cast a look over my shoulder at Simon who was playing with his hat.

"I've got plans with Si tonight." I said. "Sorry."

"Nah, it's cool." He smiled, tapping his helmet. "It just means you owe me." Before I could get another word in he winked and sprinted back across the lawn to his team mates. I shook my head, before grabbing Simon once more.

"I thought I'd lost you there!" Simon smiled, relief apparent on his face.

"You're not that lucky." I teased as we headed for Java's. Simon grabbed a booth as I went to place our order. As I was waiting for the barista to prepare Simon's intricate order, I caught sight of someone familiar on the other side of the coffee shop. I could make out what looked to be the back of Jordan's head, sat at the booth with a girl. _Was that his ex? The one Jon had spoken about?_

The girl had beautiful skin, light brown in colour. Her hair was full of life, dark and curly. She was wearing dark clothes and it looked as though she had been crying. Her eyes caught mine for a moment and I quickly looked away not wanting to get into an awkward situation. I grabbed the coffees and headed over to my own booth.

"Who were you scoping out?" Simon teased as I placed the coffees on the table. I cast another glance as though they could hear me.

"Just that girl who Jordan is with, I think Jon was telling me about her earlier." Simon craned his neck to get a view and I pulled him back into his seat, so that he wouldn't draw attention to us.

"I didn't know she was back in town." He commented, furrowing his brow. "That's Maia." He told me.

"I thought so."

"I wonder if they're getting back together." Simon said, with a hint of something a little more in his voice. "Her mum died y'know." He mused, still watching her over the top of the booth. "She got taken into foster care and she set fire to a couple of sheds." I nodded along. As much as it sounded like crazy behaviour, I could understand the place it was coming from. The only reason my anger at my father's death had not brimmed to the surface was because it was buried by the other feelings. Guilt, regret and more importantly worry, for Jon. "They're coming over here." Simon whispered becoming suddenly interested in his coffee. I felt sick. This was awkward.

"Simon! Hi!" Maia bubbled, reaching over the table to embrace Simon. "And who's this?"

"Clary." Both Jordan and Simon spoke in unison, as I smiled nervously. _Did she know that Jordan and I had been – well what had we been doing?_

"Clary!" Maia giggled, her energy contagious. "I hear you've been a good friend to Jordan." I looked at her, looking for a hint of sarcasm or shadiness but it wasn't there. Jordan smiled at her side. "Can we join you?" She asked as Simon moved along so that she could scoot in next to him. Jordan looked at me apologetically as he slid in next to me.

"How are you?" Simon asked thoughtfully as Maia waved her hand at him.

"I'm medicated now." Maia smiled. "I won't be setting fire to anything soon." There was a nervous laughter around the table, Maia laughed the loudest. It was obvious she was still grieving – overcompensating. I couldn't get over the way the boys looked at her, the both of them. They were both enamoured with her. I felt like a strange sort of fourth wheel. I was looking longingly out of the booth but had to quickly cast my gaze back inside when I saw the football team and cheerleading squad entering the café. "Since when did Java's become so popular?" Maia groaned, pulling her face.

"Don't let her bother you." Jordan spoke quietly as Maia was glaring over the top of the booth. I followed her gaze straight to Aline.

"I ought to go and give her a piece of my mind."

"Maia." Jordan breathed.

"What Jordan?" Maia snapped, rage suddenly apparent. "She made my life hell. She deserves a piece of that." She went to rise from the booth and to my surprise it was Simon who held her back.

"She's not worth it Maia." Simon spoke quietly. "She'll get her comeuppance one day." Maia looked pained and I daren't ask what had led her to feel so strongly about Aline but after the way I'd seen her treat Lily, I knew it couldn't be good.

"I want to leave." Maia spoke firmly. "Sorry Clary. It was nice to meet you." She apologised as Jordan helped her out of the booth and they left the coffee shop quickly and quietly.

"Dare I ask what the issue is there?" I asked Simon. He looked at the group on the other side of the café who were being loud and lively.

"Aline bullied Maia mercilessly." Simon said, sipping his coffee. "She made her life hell. It's no wonder Maia snapped like she did. I reckon Aline is scared of her now though, I doubt she'd try any more funny business."

Simon and I were on our way out of the coffee shop an hour later as Aline and her friends were leaving. Simon and I walked out of the door ahead of them and I could hear them calling behind.

"Hey!" She was shouting, I finally turned to face her.

"What?" I turned around finally, my patience wearing thin.

"I was using the door." She said plainly.

"Congratulations?" I said confused, Simon stifled a laugh next to me as the football team poured out of the door. Aline's face hardened.

"You pushed in front of me."

"Or I walk faster than you?"

"Well why don't you use that talent of yours and walk away, little girl!" Aline started to get louder, the more the crowd grew around her. I frowned at her, trying to figure out what her game was. I laughed. She was attracting the attention of the football team and it seemed to be raising her courage. I couldn't be bothered to get in a fight with her, especially over nothing.

 _I needed to have a word with Jon when I got home about Aline. I couldn't believe that someone as nice as my brother could have went out with someone like Aline – she was poison._

"You're very strange." I commented as Simon and I went to walk home.

"I know what you're up too!" Aline shouted after me. "Slut." I could feel the rage building inside of me. Suddenly it was all that mattered. The feelings that had been covering it were suddenly feeding it, fuelling it. Simon was aware of what was going on before I was. He grabbed me around the middle as I made to dash at Aline. Her face was smug as Simon held me back.

"Let me go." I grumped at Simon as his arm started to cut into my ribs, my feet raising off the ground.

"I'll tell you the same as I told Maia. She's not worth it." Simon grunted with effort. I slumped against Simon's arm. _She wasn't worth it._

I turned away, linking with Simon once more. He kept looking back to make sure that Aline wasn't following us, planning a surprise attack. I heard him sigh and it was apparent why. I could hear Aline wrestling with Jace behind me, shouting his name as footsteps approached behind Simon and me.

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **All of my love,**

 **Until the next time!**

 **~Sapph**


	14. Chapter 14: Progress

**Thank you for reading! I really appreciate every read, review, follow and favourite!**

I kept walking, wanting to be away from the lot of them. If it hadn't been for Simon steering me towards his house, I probably would have headed straight home and had a lot more questions to answer. Jace quickly caught up to us and looked at Simon with raised eyebrows. He had changed out of his uniform and was now dressed in a pair of slim fit jeans and a ripped t-shirt with a letterman jacket over the top. It was obvious what he was doing – non-verbally asking Simon to step aside for two moments while we talked. I gave him an apologetic look as he stepped out of the way and out of earshot.

"Is everything alright?" Jace asked looking at me intently. I shrugged.

"Can't say I've ever been called a slut before." _Had it hurt so much because I'd never been called such a name before? Or had it hurt because I'd been worried about being viewed that way after everything that had happened with Jordan, Jace and Sebastian. Everything that I had allowed to happen. Had it hurt because I was worried it was true?_

"I wouldn't let her get to you." Jace tried to comfort me. "She's just got it into her head that you're with Jon somehow and she won't drop it, so she does what she's best at."

"She needs to drop it and drop it quickly." I grumbled, crossing my arms across my chest. I could feel that rage building again deep in the pit of my stomach.

"You getting feisty there?" I shrugged, feeling myself getting aggravated and irritable.

"Maybe." I sighed, catching sight of Aline coming up in the background. "It just drives me crazy. I'm not an argumentative person. I'm not a violent person. But she is making me so angry. I don't want to do something out of character for the sake of her."

"Then don't." Jace laughed as though it was so simple. "Look, are you free tomorrow?" Aline was gaining up space, practically over his shoulder, I tried to turn but Jace grabbed my hand, pulling me back to face him. "The longer it takes you to answer me, the closer she's gonna get." He teased.

"Yes I'm free."

"Marvellous!" He burst into a grin. "I'll meet you at Java at dinner time." I just nodded in agreement, anything to get away from Aline – for both my sake and her sake.

"What was that all about?" Simon asked as he linked me, steering me firmly away from those behind.

"I think he just asked me out." I was just catching up myself.

"If you're going to keep up like this, you might want to think about telling him sooner rather than later." Simon said, speaking his mind.

"Tell him?" I questioned, unsure of his meaning. Simon looked at me, eyebrow raised.

"About Jon." Simon spoke quietly as though he would be overheard. I felt a sudden wash of discomfort take over me. "I guess what I'm trying to say Clary is – how do I word this? What if you really like Jace? This could really come between you if you were to make a go of things."

"Let's not count our chickens before they've hatched Si." I smiled. "I appreciate the concern but it's still Jon's decision, not mine."

"It's worth talking to him about it surely –"

"He's come so far Si – he'll come around when he's ready." Simon sighed, knowing that this conversation was going nowhere. I owed Jon so much, I would never do anything to intentionally hurt him.

When I got home, I walked right into an argument. Jon was screaming like crazy, Mum wailing like a banshee.

"What on earth are you two shouting about?" I shouted between them trying to make sense of the sudden wall of noise.

"She's being completely unreasonable!" Jon shouted from the side of his bed as Mum paced the corridors.

"Jon! Do not start this again!" She seethed. "You're not ready. You can't rush yourself! You'll make yourself worse!" She shouted back, tempers fraying. Her eyes were darkened, she was worn out.

"You don't know that I'm not ready!" He shouted back as she tried to get a word in. "I'm ready! I am!" He started grabbing for his crutches, clearly going to show her how ready he was.

"Jon –" She tried calming him down as I just stood between them completely helpless.

"You don't know me! Not like Dad did!" Jon shouted and I saw the regret dawn on his face instantly as the anger subsided. That was enough for Mum, the tears threatening to spill. It was carnage. Mum made immediately for the door as I made to catch up with her. My attention was turned quickly to Jon who hit the floor with a loud clatter, his crutches falling away from him as he desperately tried to chase Mum himself. I bent down to his level, moving the crutches to within his reaching distance so that he could attempt to get up if he wanted too. _I knew how stubborn he was, he wouldn't want me helping him_. I patted him on the back lightly but my heart froze when I heard him sobbing, his cheeks stained. I pulled my hoodie off, using it as a makeshift pillow to support his head that was pressed into the floor.

"I miss him so much Clary." He choked, his limbs restless. I helped him into a sitting position, his arms draping around me as he cried into my shoulder. It took a lot of strength on my part to keep myself sitting up, his weight upon me but I held firm for as long as he needed me. Once his tears had subsided somewhat, Simon's words resounded in my head.

"I think I have a solution to your problem."

"I don't think there's any solution to my problem." He said, downtrodden. "It's useless. I'm useless." _I had to bring Jon out of this mentality._

"Do you not think that the reason you're so sad is because you've lost Dad, school and your friends?" I queried him. He shrugged, not looking me in the eye. "Maybe if you just reached out to one of them – the one you can trust the most. Just someone to confide in, someone to help you along the way."

"I guess that makes sense." He seemed to be following my idea. "But, that means I have to put you in a difficult position."

"No." I shook my head. "Don't mention me. This isn't about me. If you mention me it takes away from what it is you're trying to achieve. This is about you Jon, about you just getting to feel normal. If all goes well, then you can mention me the next time."

"Are you sure?" Jon seemed somewhat excited but also in a panic. "Where will you go? What will you do? I don't want to make your life difficult Clary."

"I'll make plans with Si. I don't mind." I shrugged. "I just want you to feel comfortable. If you're ready to go to school, then you must be ready to see people again, so why not swap them around? See someone first before you leap into heading back to school. Test the waters." Jon hugged me tightly before asking me to pass his phone down from his bedside. I reached it for him without hesitation before letting him have his privacy.

It didn't take long for me to figure out what Jon had spent his privacy achieving.

 **Jace: Hey Clary, I know this is super rude of me – but would you be cool to meet a little later tomorrow? I've had something come up at lunchtime. Can I text you tomorrow? Sorry again.**

 **Clary: That's fine. Just let me know.**

I instantly turned my attention to Simon.

 **Clary: Si – I know this is a little last minute, but would your mum be cool with me staying the night? I'll fill you in later?**

 **Simon: Mum's still pissed at me. I doubt she'll let me. I could come over there though?**

 _That was no good. I needed to be out of the house, out of the way. There was only one other option, although I felt uncomfortable making that choice especially as I was supposed to be going on a date with Jace tomorrow._

 **Clary: Don't worry about it Si. All sorted now.**

 **Clary: Hi Jordan, I don't suppose I could ask a really big favour of you?**

He replied relatively quickly.

 **Jordan: Oh dear – dare I ask? :P**

 **Clary: It's a bit of a reach. Do you think I could possibly like stay at your house tonight? On the sofa or on the floor or something? Jace is coming to see Jon tomorrow and I don't want to be in the way. I would have stayed at Simon's but he's not allowed many freedoms after that party. It's okay if I can't though, just thought I'd ask.**

I must have deleted and rewrote the text at least 5 times but it still looked like I was rambling. My phone chimed a few minutes later but I held off reading it for a good few minutes, feeling anxious.

 **Jordan: Of course you can. Do you need a lift?**

 **Clary: No no, I can make it over there – thank you so much!**

I packed myself a quick overnight bag with a couple of choices for outfits for tomorrow just in case I did actually find myself going out with Jace. I'd heard Mum come back about five minutes since so I knew I'd be fine to leave Jon by himself. Jon was looking at me questionably as I descended the stairs.

"Where are you going?" His brow was furrowed.

"I'm going to stay out the night. I'm assuming you're going to have someone come around tomorrow?" He nodded. "I don't want to get in the way. It's about you."

"Thanks for this Clary." He smiled. "I owe you one."

"Don't you forget it." I smirked at him as I left the house and made my way over to Jordan's as fast as I could – it was freezing out and I was severely regretting not accepting that lift. I was expecting to find Maia at Jordan's but much to my surprise, he was all alone. He let me into the house and we walked straight through to the living room.

"So." Jordan started. "Why is it you're hiding from Jace?"

"I'm not hiding from him." I bit back as Jordan gave me an unconvinced look. "Well not really. I just don't think it's going to help Jon get through his issues." I shrugged. "He needs to see Jace to talk about himself, to talk about how he's doing. If he mentions me then he mentions me, it's entirely up to him. I just think he needs to fix himself first, worry about me later."

"Do you not deserve some healing?" Jordan asked as he changed the channel on the television.

"I don't need it as much as Jon. I'm not as broken as he is." I fidgeted with my hair, pushing my feelings down into my stomach.

"I won't push the subject Clary. That's not the type of guy I am." Jordan said softly. "But he was your Dad too. If you ever need to talk about that, I'm more than willing to listen."

Jordan stuck true to his word and changed the conversation to something lighter, allowing me to breathe freely. When I started to get tired, he directed me towards his bedroom. I started to put up a fight until he told me that his Mum would be out all night and that he was sleeping in her room. I thanked him, before turning in for the night.

 **Jace's PoV**

I couldn't help but feel nervous which was bizarre. I never felt nervous. I made my way over to Jon's house bright and early. I felt quite bad for Clary, re-arranging our plans at the very last minute, but I'm sure she would understand when I explained the whole situation to her later. Knocking on the door, I waited for a good few minutes before my phone started to vibrate in my pocket.

 **Jon: Just come in. Will explain.**

I shrugged, pushing the door open and stepping into the hallway. I made my way to the base of the stairs, preparing to head up to Jon's room.

"Jace – in here." A voice called from the living room. I was taken aback to find that it had been turned into a bedroom. My eyes weren't sure what to take in first. A wheelchair pushed into the corner of the room, crutches propped up against the base of the bed and then Jon, as happy as ever, as normal as ever. Or so it would seem.

"Well, this explains a lot of things." I couldn't help myself. Jon patted the side of the bed for me to take a seat. "What's the damage?"

"Nothing that I can't get over."

 **Thank you for reading my stories! The majority of the next chapter will be from Jace's PoV.**

 **All of my love,**

 **Until the next time!**

 **~Sapph**


	15. Chapter 15: Assumptions

**Hello! How lovely to see you again!**

 **I made a bit of boo-boo in my last chapter! You keen-eyed first couple of readers may have seen it, as I had to edit it out. Note to self – do not leave the next chapters plot points at the bottom of the previous chapter!**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

 **Jace's PoV**

When I was thinking about coming to see Jon earlier, I had been worried that it would be awkward. Worried that we wouldn't have anything to talk about or that too much time had passed. It wasn't the case, not even in the slightest.

"Mate, I was so sorry to hear about what happened with your Dad." I told him, getting myself comfortable at the base of the bed. Jon nodded his head.

"It was horrible." Jon admitted. "I wouldn't wish it on anyone." He quickly changed the subject. "Aline been causing you many problems?" He asked, running his hands through his hair.

"Not much." I played down the fact that she had been equally attentive to Sebastian and I, and that Sebastian's willpower and morals were nowhere near as strong as mine. I could see that he was clearly bothered about her still, no matter how loathsome a person she was. "Who cares about Aline we're supposed to be talking about you?!" I joked. "Should we be expecting you back anytime soon?"

"I've tried talking to my Mum about coming back but she's been blocking me. Probably because she's just worried about me and she's scared I'll get hurt again. I spoke to uh – her - again and she said that I should try meeting with a couple of friends first to see if I'm really ready to go back to school or whether I'm just lonely."

"Well I can come around here a few times a week if you want – get you back to normal a little bit! I'm sure your Mum will come around once she sees the progress you're making! Plus I think I need it for my own sanity." I laughed.

"How's that? You been missing me?" Jon smirked.

"Definitely. No two ways about it. There's only so much I can talk about with Sebastian. Don't get me wrong, he's one of my best friends, but you can't be the Three Musketeers when one of you is missing." I shrugged. "It's just been odd and the dynamic has been thrown off."

"I'll be back before you know it." Jon laughed. "I've been coming on leaps and bounds to tell the truth. I just need to pick up my stamina with the crutches and then I'll be back amongst it all. I hope you haven't been partying too hard without me." Jon steered away from the deeper conversations.

"You know me Jon. I can't function unless I get the party monster out of my system." I teased.

"Hopefully that's the only monster you've been unleashing." We laughed long and hard. It was as though he'd never been away. It's true what they say – time is irrelevant between best friends. We just fell back together and everything was normal again.

"How long do you think it'll be before you're back on the field?" Jon shook his head.

"I don't like to think about it." He admitted, sheepishly. "I think it'll be a long time though. If it hurts to walk, imagine how much it'll hurt trying to carry the lot of you again?" I shoved him in the leg before I had a chance to think about it.

"Shit Jon! I didn't – I totally forgot." I bumbled as Jon winced, massaging his thigh deeply with his fingertips. "Is there anything I can do to help you?" I quickly added.

"Nah, it's alright." Jon smiled, his hand still kneading his leg. "I've survived worse than a shove." As our conversations went on, I remembered what Aline had said about Jon, what she had accused him of. Being his best friend, I felt it my duty to tell him – before it got back to him some other way.

"Have you actually seen Aline at all?" I questioned, Jon shrugged.

"She was outside one day, shouting on in the street. Apart from that, I haven't seen a soul." He admitted.

"Aline has been saying some horrible things about you, I just thought you'd want to hear it from me." I told him. He looked at me, eyebrows cocked. "That you've been cheating on her, that you hit her." I trailed off. Jon laughed loudly.

"I don't think I have the strength to hit anyone, let alone a girl. Also, you have to be in a relationship to cheat on someone." He smirked. I raised an eyebrow.

"Does that mean you _have_ been seeing someone?"

"Does it look like I've been seeing anyone?" I laughed in agreement. Aline was full of it.

"Girls eh? Who'd have them?" I joked.

"Once Aline sees how busted I am, she'll leave well alone." Jon said, somewhat sullen. As much as she'd been horrible about him and as much as she'd made every possible attempt to get with his friends, there was still some sort of feeling there.

"There's plenty more fish in the sea mate. Nicer, less spiky fish."

"Aline is like the pufferfish of the fish world." Jon smirked. "Speaking of plenty of fish, how's your love life?"

"I have a date when I'm done here actually."

"With a pufferfish?"

"More like a dolphin."

"You do realise a dolphin is a mammal?" Jon joked as I pulled a face. "Plus, dolphins aren't as nice as they make themselves out to be."

"You don't like dolphins?"

"Went swimming with them once." Jon pulled a grim face. "Hated it. Don't like them. Sneaky little buggars." We argued for a little longer about all sort of animals and their personality traits before I finally caught sight of the time. I was running late already.

"I suppose I best get cracking. It's been great seeing you mate. Don't leave it so long next time, right?"

"Don't you worry about it. You'll be round here all the time now."

"I'll hold you to that!" I threatened as I got to my feet. As I went to walk away, I caught some material around my foot. Lowering myself, I reached for it to give it to Jon. As my fingers clamped around it, I couldn't help but recognise it. I was 99.9% sure that this was the hoody that Clary had been wearing yesterday. A million questions formed in my head. I left the hoody on the floor, pretending I'd been tying my shoe before I let myself out. _What kind of game was she playing? Had Aline been right all along? Had Jon lied? Why? Should I mention it on this date? Should I even go to this date? Should I play it cool and catch them out?_ My mind was abuzz as I subconsciously made my way to Java Jones.

 **Clary's PoV**

I woke bright and early, getting myself ready for the day ahead. On my way out, I thanked Jordan again for letting me stay the night. I'd dressed myself in a pair of faded skinny fit jeans and top that had a nautical feel about it, with a flower sleeved bomber jacket over the top. When I got to Java Jones, I headed straight inside, sitting myself down next to the window. I looked out of the window as I waited, nervously. I wouldn't know what state I'd be seeing Jace in today. _Would their conversation have spread to cover me? Would Jace be coming to meet me clued up? Why did that thought make me feel kind of good?_

I caught sight of Jace around ten minutes later, walking slowly to the café. He was dressed in a pair of navy jogging bottoms and a long white vest top, a navy hoody over the top. He crossed over to the café, making his way inside. He smiled at me lightly, before heading over to my table. He placed his jacket on the chair, heading to the counter to place our order. I felt myself fidgeting as I waited for him to finish. He greeted me with a smile as he sat down.

"Did you manage this morning?" I asked, he furrowed his brow.

"What?" He questioned. "What do you mean?"

"Your plans that came up? You had to push this back?"

"Oh – yeah." He smiled, sipping his coffee. "Better than expected." I couldn't help but smile at the implication. That meant his conversation with Jon had went well. He gave me a strange look as I sipped my coffee to conceal my smile. "How has your morning been?"

"Quiet." I admitted. _Was it just me or was this slightly awkward? Had Jon said something? Usually he was full of conversation and now he just seemed preoccupied._ "Are you alright?" I queried as Jace stared out of the window.

"I went to see Jon this morning." He told me. "It was – hard – seeing him like that, y'know?" I nodded, letting Jace talk. "It's just so crazy to think that something so serious can happen to someone just like me…to someone so close to me. It makes you realise that you're not actually invincible. Far from it, really."

"All the more reason to live life to the full." I added. "You never know what's around the corner."

"Life certainly is _full_ of surprises." He looked at me knowingly. The silences were awkward and I felt sick to my stomach. It was obvious something wasn't right.

"You're not acting like yourself." I threw out.

"Hmm. I suppose I'm lost in thought." He did seem to be thinking. "Wondering really…" He trailed off, not keeping eye contact. "Why lie?" He suddenly said, his eyes fixed on mine, almost staring.

"Pardon?" I asked, moving my coffee to one side.

"Everything that Aline said – I defended you. I consoled you and told you to rise above it." Jace said accusingly, his voice unfaltering. "All along you were lying to me – you've been seeing Jon this entire time. I don't know how I didn't see it before." He moved himself to his feet, making to leave.

"Jace! I can explain." I resigned myself to having to tell the truth. He shook his head at me, mistaking my explanation for admittance.

"Save it." He grumbled. "Maybe Aline was right all along." I sank back into my seat as I watched him stroll away from the window. I could forgive him his anger and I could forgive him the walking away. The implication that I was a slut? I couldn't forgive that. I pulled my phone out and sent a message to Simon.

 **Clary: Can I see you today?**

As I was waiting for his response, I noticed a message in the group chat. It was from Lily.

 **Lily: I suppose we need to get back to working on this project. Library. Tomorrow after school. No excuses.**

I rolled my eyes as a message from Simon pinged through.

 **Simon: Meet at the park in 10?**

 **Clary: See you there.**

I headed out of the café and over to the park to wait for Simon. _Why hadn't I thought about this? The chances of Jace finding something of mine at home were very likely. I should have just told him. If only I'd done things differently._ I sat myself at a bench, my arms pulled up into my jumper.

"I thought you had plans today?" Simon asked, sitting down.

"Not anymore." I shrugged. "Jace has made assumptions about Jon and I. He didn't give me a chance to explain."

"He thinks you're involved?" Simon questioned, I shuddered at the implication.

"Pretty much." I nodded. "It's partially my fault. I should have told him."

"It's easily solved Clary." Simon smiled. "Just get Jon to tell him." Simon shrugged, but I shook my head.

"He pretty much implied that I was a slut, Si." I retorted. "He can think what he wants. I'm done."

"Clary." Simon scolded. "Stop being so bloody stubborn."

"I'm not." I pouted. "I'm not going to go and chase him. He can think what he wants. If he thinks that _I_ would lie about something like that to his face. Hell, if he thinks that _Jon_ would lie about something like that to his face…he can figure it out himself."

"Is this that anger rising again…?" Simon asked, sheepishly.

"Kind of." I said. "It's something I said earlier. You never know what's around the corner. Life is for living and I'm not going to spend it with people who find it okay to call me a slut."

 **Thank you so much for reading!**

 **Let me know what you think!**

 **And as always…**

 **All my love,**

 **Until the next time.**

 **~Sapph**


	16. Chapter 16: One Step Too Far

**Thank you to everyone who reads my story. The current storyline that I am running at the minute has inspired me so much, I just can't stop writing. I love hearing your feedback.**

When I got home that night, Jon called me into his room. I tried to plaster a smile on my face.

"Hey, how did it go?" I asked, subsiding all of my own feelings.

"Pretty great." He laughed. "I don't know what I was worried about. He totally understood." He shrugged. I smiled at him, genuinely happy for his progress. I went in the shower for a good think after our conversation.

 _I knew that all of my feelings were heightened by the fact I wasn't properly dealing with my father's death. The guilt that I felt, it made everything more stressful, everything more infuriating. Part of me wanted to catch Jace when he couldn't get away from me, to tell him everything. The other part of me wanted nothing to do with him. It wasn't the fact that he had left without giving me a chance to explain, it wasn't that he didn't believe me, it wasn't even that he had implied that I was slut– it was the fact that he thought Jon would lie to him like that. They were supposed to be best friends. He was supposed to give_ _ **him**_ _the benefit of the doubt._

 _The situation wasn't supposed to turn out like this. When Jon was ready to see people, everything was supposed to get better. It was supposed to come out that I was his sister. Everything was supposed to be drama free. No more half-truths. No more lies. No more hiding. It was a mess and I had no idea how to deal with it. I couldn't ask Jon about it. I'd rather fix it myself than have to worry or burden him with it._

I went to sleep that night and fell into an uneasy sleep. I overslept the next morning, not making it to form class. I turned up to the library at the end of the school day and was the first one there – that was assuming that everyone was going to actually turn up. Lily wasn't long after me, sitting herself down next to me and giving me a small smile. She looked better than the last time I'd seen her.

"It's nice to see that someone is taking this seriously." She said as she rutted through her bag. "Here's hoping that Sebastian comes unaccompanied this week." She mused, pulling out her various pieces of paper and stationary. It didn't take long for Sebastian and Jace to turn up. The pair of them were joking around with one another, laughing and playing around, dressed in their letterman jackets. They sat down at the table with us without as much of a hello.

"Let's get on with this then." Jace grunted. "I haven't got all day. Places to be, people to see."

"Ladies to see to." Sebastian added, gaining a smirk from Jace. Lily verbally expressed her displeasure while I settled with an eye-roll.

"The task at hand." Lily cleared her throat. "The next part of our newspaper that we need to do is like a reflective section, something about the school – hence why I've brought you to the library, so that we can research interesting things about the school and the people who've went here before us." Lily sounded almost like a teacher. She gave us our various topics before sending us off amongst the bookshelves. I was thankful for the distraction, not wanting to really interact with either of the boys. I wasn't sure just how much Jace had told Sebastian, but whatever he could have told him, it wouldn't have been good. Every time I came across one of them up an aisle I needed to be up, I made sure to walk up a different one. As I was reading up on the more famous students who had attended our school, I heard someone approach from behind me. I buried my nose into the book, making it look like I was busy.

"I haven't told him if that's what you're concerned about." Jace said, smugly. I shrugged, looking at my book. A small silence passed, Jace's eyes trained in on the top of my head. "I'm guessing you're not bothered? Ready to come out and admit it?" He was trying to goad me, it was obvious. I moved further down the bookshelf, placing the book I had back and looking for another one. _I couldn't be bothered with this. Any intentions I had of telling him the truth had went out of the window when he had started trying to be clever. Ignorance was the best course at the minute, I didn't want to lash out. Not in public._ "Did he set you up to it? Trying to get with Sebastian and me?" Jace asked as I turned to look at him, eyes narrowed. _Could he hear himself? That was supposed to be his best friend._

"Isn't Jon supposed to be your best friend?" I retorted. "Why would he do a thing like that to you?" I turned back to the bookshelves, shaking my head.

"I thought he was my best friend and then I realised that he'd been lying to me." Jace grumbled. "Making a fool out me."

"Maybe he doesn't think you can handle the truth." I muttered under my breath. "You're making a fool out of yourself."

"Or maybe this is just all you." Jace muttered quietly. "Maybe you decided that you'd cast your net a little bit while Jon is out of action. Let's be honest, he's hardly running marathons at the minute." The anger inside me built up as I dropped the book I was holding to the floor. My hands made contact with his chest, pushing him backwards and taking him by surprise. He fell against the bookshelf behind, causing a small bang. I moved myself up close to him so that nobody could hear me.

"Will you be quiet?" I hissed. "That's private information. He trusted you with it. Maybe you need to think about how good of a friend you are, betraying his trust like that." Jace was looking at me, his eyes trying to suss me out. _I'd had enough of this. I was on the verge of telling him, on the verge of screaming 'He's my brother!' and letting everything fall into place._

I opened my mouth as Sebastian popped his head over the bookshelf, alerted by the bang. I quickly closed it, stepping back from Jace.

"Now now, let's not get frisky in the aisles." Sebastian teased as I stormed back to the table with the book I had in my hand.

 **Sebastian's PoV**

I'd been standing on the other side of the bookshelf listening. My mouth had fallen open a few times. This information was pure gold. Clary and Jon _were_ an item. I pulled my phone out of my pocket penning a quick message to Aline. She _had_ to know about this. It was just too good to resist. Plus, if I was the one to tell her about this, it would be so beneficial for me in the long run. She'd actually _want_ to be with me.

 **Sebastian: You will NEVER guess what I've just heard.**

Her response was instant.

 **Aline: Are you going to tell me or make me guess? You know how much I hate guessing.**

 **Sebastian: You were right! Completely 100% bang on the money.**

 **Aline: I'm always right. What about this time? Stop messing about Seb.**

 **Sebastian: Clary + Jon.**

 **Aline: You have GOT to be kidding me!**

I waited until Clary had stormed off before looking at Jace.

"As _if_ she's been seeing Jon this whole time!" I breathed, Jace shot me a look.

"How much did you hear?" He questioned, his brow furrowed.

"Enough." I smirked as my phone chirped again, Aline going wild.

"Who did you tell?" Jace sighed, his shoulders slumping.

"Just Aline." I grinned. _This was going to be gold._

 **Clary's PoV**

Lily let us go once she was satisfied that we had contributed enough to the project. I was glad to be let go, my rage at Jace slowly increasing the more I was forced to look at his face. Heading across the car park to the outer gates, I could hear voices behind me. I carried on my way, putting my head down against the wind. It was only when I was in touching distance to the gate that I realised someone was calling my name. I span momentarily to see Aline racing after me, her little crew hot on her heels with Jace and Sebastian following leisurely a good way behind, talking amongst themselves. _I prayed in my head that he hadn't told her. Why on earth would he tell her?_ I tried to increase my pace, my shins starting to ache. She must have ran the rest of the distance between us as I suddenly felt my head tug backwards as she grabbed a fistful of my hair. I yelped as she pulled me around, her hand tightly wrapped up in my hair. Her little group surrounded us, Sebastian and Jace still walking through the carpark.

"I knew it!" She screamed in my face as her fingernails nipped into my scalp. I tried to wiggle free of her grasp, my hands on top of hers, trying to release her grasp. "I knew you were a slut." She tugged again, trying to pull me to the ground. I fought to keep myself standing, my hands trying to relieve the pressure. Her little gang was watching, Jace and Sebastian still heading down towards the gates. I couldn't tell whether they had seen what was happening or not, I was preoccupied. Her legs tried to sweep mine out from underneath me as she continued to goad me. I couldn't hear what she was saying, my ears ringing, tears threatening to spill from my eyes. I reached for her with my hands, trying to pry her from me but it was useless, she had the upper hand. With one firm swing of her leg, she managed to send me sprawling onto the concrete, a sharp pain shooting up my back. My only saving grace was that she had let go of my hair. I could see that she had wisps of it remaining in her clenched fist. She stepped over me and I covered my face with my hands, bracing for impact. Whenever she tried to come near me, I held my feet up to fend her off. _Why wasn't anyone helping me? Did Jace really hate me that much? Did Sebastian really think that I deserved this?_ Aline kicked me firmly in the side, screaming at the top of her lungs. I screamed, holding my side as she got a fist into my face. I felt my lip pop, blood quickly filling my mouth, making me feel nauseous. I braced myself for another hit but it didn't come. I opened my eyes to see Jace holding her around the waist as she flailed trying to get away, calling me every name under the sun. My head was spinning, aching. I placed a tentative hand under my head, praying that my head hadn't cracked when I'd hit the floor. I checked my hand and breathed a sigh of relief when it came back clean. I turned my attention back to the group. I could make out Sebastian almost dragging Aline away as I pushed myself up into a sitting position, embarrassment consuming me. I tried to gather my bits and pieces together as they had fallen across the floor when Aline had knocked me to it. My hair was hanging over my face but I could tell that Jace knelt down at my side, helping me place stuff into my bag.

"What do you want?" I said gruffly, wiping my bleeding lip with the back of my sleeve.

"I'm not heartless Clary." He responded, gathering up my pens. "Aline deserved to have it out with you. She didn't deserve to beat you senseless." I could feel the tears nipping at the back of my eyes. _Is that the way he saw it? She deserved to do that to me?_ I was silent, pulling myself to a standing position. Jace looked at me and I couldn't read him. I wasn't sure what he was thinking. "Do you need me to walk you home?"

"No." I said bluntly, throwing my bag over my back.

"You lied Clary and Aline has had it out with you about that. Now it's over and done with. She won't bother you again." He shrugged as though it was that simple. "All is right with the world, balance is restored." I laughed through tears, sending blood spluttering down my shirt. I wiped my lip once more.

"He'll never forgive you for this." I shook my head. "He'll never forgive _any_ of you for this." Jace looked at me, his eyes narrowed. I turned on my heel and ran the entire way home.

I could barely get my key in the door when I reached it. My hand was shaking, my breath ragged. I pushed it open eventually, trying to maintain composure as I walked past Jon's room and upstairs. I wasn't banking on my mother coming out of the kitchen. Her jaw dropped when she saw me, her eyes growing wide.

"Clarissa?!" She shouted, rushing to my side. "What's happened? Tell me what's happened to you!" She pulled me into the kitchen, sitting me at the table. I caught sight of myself in the mirror as we walked past. My hair was an absolute mess and I had blood all over my t-shirt and my chin. Add to the mix that I was out of breath and I must have looked positively crazed. My mum gave me some ice to place on my mouth as I heard scraping from behind me. I closed my eyes, praying that he would just turn around and go back to his room. Praying that he wouldn't see this and question me about it.

"Mum?" Jon asked, slowly entering the room. "What's the matter?" He turned to face me, his face falling. "Clary – who did this?"

They questioned me for a good ten minutes. It was only when my mum left the room to find me some painkillers that Jon started questioning me intensely.

"It was Aline wasn't it?" He said firmly. "Why did she do this?"

"She thinks we're involved." I said honestly, dabbing some tissue on my bottom lip. Jon screwed his face up.

"Who told her that?" I shrugged.

"Jace?" I said quietly, sighing. "He came to see you and left with the assumption that we've been seeing each other. He's the only one I can think of."

"Where was he when this was happening? Or Sebastian?" Jon quizzed. I could feel the tears threatening to fall. I didn't want to be the cause of Jon breaking away from his friends. I didn't want any of this. "They were there weren't they? They were fucking right there!" Jon started to shout and I hung my head, tears trickling from the corners of my eyes. My mum had come barging back into the room but Jon was like a man possessed. He was headed for the door, walking faster on his crutches than I had ever witnessed before. Mum pleaded with him, begging for him to come back and talk about it as he tried desperately to pull the door open. His phone was ringing in his room, he turned his attention, trying to get there as fast as he could. By the time he reached it, it had went off, a text tone beeping afterwards. I raised myself from my seat, heading into his room. He was laughing at his phone, almost manically. He turned the screen to face me, shaking with anger. I read the message on the screen.

 **Jace: Blood is thicker than water man! We're brothers. Don't let this girl come between us.**

 **Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

 **Let me know what you think!**

 **And as always…**

 **All my love,**

 **Until the next time**

 **~Sapph**


	17. Chapter 17

**Hello everyone! I was going to leave this update until tomorrow (evil I know) BUT in most of the reviews I received, I was begged to update. I weighed it up and I was feeling friendly so here you are! The next chapter – enjoy and as always, let me know what you think!**

I had to duck for cover as Jon launched his phone across the room. My Mum had retreated into the kitchen, getting herself stressed out. She'd been run ragged as it was recently. Jon was still on his crutches, swaying back and forth as his face reddened. I kept a firm eye on him just in case he was to slip or hurt himself in any way.

"Jon." I said quietly. He was breathing heavily as I moved over to his side. I placed a firm hand on his shoulder, trying to push him down onto the bed behind him. His body stiffened as he remained on his feet. He looked at me, face full of rage.

"I can't believe they let her do that to you Clary." He grumbled. "I should have been there. If I'd been there everything would have worked out. If my legs weren't so useless! If I'd just _told_ Jace the other day instead of being so damn selfish." He finally slumped down to a sitting position on the bed.

"I should have just been honest from the start Jon." I shrugged. "I should have just dealt with everyone asking me questions and I should have just dealt with everything weeks ago." I admitted. "I think I was the selfish one. I should have just mentioned it."

"This isn't even about you being my sister anymore." He steamed. "Even if you were my girlfriend Clary, that doesn't give Aline the right to hit you. Me and Aline were involved, but we weren't in a relationship. If we were, why would she be trying to screw around with Sebastian and Jace like she has been? She can't just hit someone because she thinks the shoe is on the other foot. They shouldn't have let her do that to you. I thought they were better guys than that. They should know how dangerous violence can be."

"To be fair, Jace did pull her off and said that he couldn't stand by and watch her beat me senseless." I tried to diffuse the situation. I didn't want him to lose his friends over this whole situation. _Sure, they hadn't acted the best way they could have, but it could all be sorted. Couldn't it?_

"He let her rip your hair out of your head, he let her throw you to the ground and he let her bust your lip." Jon recited the information that I'd told him and my mother when they'd been cleaning me up. "He stood by just fine during all of that." Jon's phone vibrated again on the other side of the room. He made immediately for his crutches but I held my hand up, retrieving it for him.

"I'll take a few days off school, let it calm down." I suggested but Jon shook his head as he entered his password.

"You'll do no such thing." He grumped. He laughed again once he read the message that adorned his phone.

"Jace again?" I asked in a small voice. He nodded, placing his phone down on the side of the bed, his grin still stretched across his face.

"He's coming around. I can't wait for this." Jon was laughing quietly to himself.

"Is that really a good idea?" I muttered.

"Probably not for him, no." Jon said truthfully. "For me? The best."

There was no dissuading Jon from this idea. I made my way into the kitchen to speak to my Mum. It didn't take long for me to persuade her to leave the house for a few hours, promising to deal with Jon myself. She nearly bit my hand off at the offer and it was clear she had wanted to leave the house herself. She was gone for around 20 minutes before there was a knock on the door. I looked at Jon and Jon looked back at me. His rage had seemingly settled down but I had no clue how he would react when confronted with Jace. Jon made me promise to stay in the kitchen as he worked his way onto his crutches and headed for the door. I obeyed, making my way into the kitchen and standing around the corner so that my body was hidden but so that I could still make out what was happening. Jon was positioned behind the door, breathing deeply as another knock rang out against it. For a moment, I almost believed that he wasn't going to open the door that he was just going to stand and watch it until Jace had vanished from the other side. I watched and I waited, my attention finally peaked when I heard the door open a fraction.

"Jon. Mate." Jace started and I could see that he was trying to make his way into the house. Jon blocked his path, poised on his crutches.

"What have you turned into Jace? How could you let something like that happen?" Jon questioned him, making it clear that he knew all about the situation, Jace was still determined to get into the house.

"If you let me in, we can talk all about it." Jace said firmly. "You don't want to be shouting and bawling on the doorstep."

"I don't intend to shout or brawl." Jon said simply, the gap in the door between them decreasing.

"Why didn't you just tell me?" Jace pleaded. "I asked if you were seeing anyone. Why lie to me?" Jon shook his head, laughing lightly. I held onto the wall in the kitchen, making sure to press myself firmly against it.

"Just leave it Jace, I haven't got anything more to say to you." I watched on. Jace seemed to be getting himself stressed out as Jon was pushing him away. It happened in an instant. Jace pushed the door open, counting on Jon's surprise as he slipped through and into the hallway. Jon span to face him, slower as he was resting on his crutches. Jon's face was filled with anger at what Jace had just pulled. "Get out." He said quietly, as Jace kept the distance between them more than a crutch length.

"Why didn't you just tell me you were seeing her Jon?" Jace spoke, his voice raised. "Why didn't you just be honest with me? Save all this hassle."

"You're not right in the head mate!" Jon was shouting back, his crutch stamping against the floor. "Get the fuck out of my house!" I was getting uncomfortable watching Jon get so irate, part of me just wanted to run out between them and lay everything out.

"Why wouldn't you tell me? Surely you've got to know that I was interested in her! That she was seeing me! Surely you've got to know that she was playing us both."

"It's not about her anymore Jace. It's about you. What kind of person have you turned into? Letting people attack people over stupid rumours? Not believing in me? When have I ever lied to you about something that serious Jace? When have I ever compromised you for the sake of girl?" Jon said, somewhat emotionally. I had to take my eyes away from them, walking into the kitchen.

"It is about her. This wouldn't be happening if it wasn't for her." Jace seemed flabbergasted. "What's that?" I heard Jace move over, ascending a couple of stairs. My bag must have been still on the stairs when I'd dropped it on my way in earlier. "She's here?!" Jace's temper seemed to raise through the roof as he charged down the hallway and into the kitchen where I stood next to the sink. I looked at him wide eyed, holding onto the counter behind me. His face was hardened, his eyes glued to me as he shook his head. Jon was following him down the hallway, as fast as he could manage. I could see by the look on his face that it was paining him. He'd been on his crutches for too long.

"Jon, you need to rest." I skirted away from Jace, moving over to where Jon was. "Will you at least sit down?" I begged. He shook his head.

"Are you pleased with yourself?" Jace rounded on me before turning to Jon. "You do realise she has kissed Sebastian. She has kissed Jordan, and lord knows what else. She was working her charms on me as well. Do you know all of that Jon?" Jace was clearly trying to drive his point home, I could feel myself flushing with embarrassment. "Do you know that?"

"Leave him alone." I snapped at Jace. "Can't you see that he's exhausted? He's in pain."

"You're the only one hurting him here. He deserves to know about it! He deserves to know all about you."

"Jace, leave it will you?" I pleaded with him. Jace looked poised to start arguing with me more when Jon just started laughing. We were both silenced as we turned to face Jon. He moved over slowly to sit in one of the kitchen chairs, his crutches propped against the kitchen counter.

"Tell me honestly Jace, do you really think we're involved?" Jon's voice had levelled out as he looked at Jace almost trying to weigh him up.

"What other explanation is there?" Jace retorted, holding his hands up. "She lied how she knew you, she lied about seeing you." He counted them off on his fingers. "What reason would she have to lie unless there was something going on that shouldn't be? Unless she had something to hide."

"Think about it Jace." Jon shook his head. "Really think hard about it." Jace was looking between Jon and me, confusion apparent on his face. I looked at Jon myself, shrugging. _Was he going to put him out of his misery or was I? Why was he playing this guessing game? Trying to get Jace to come to the realisation on his own? Antagonising him?_

"Jon – I don't know –" Jace's anger had been replaced by pure confusion as he looked to Jon for answers.

"We're not in the relationship that you think Jace. We're not seeing each other, not like that."

"So what? You're friends? She said you were friends in the café but why wouldn't she just tell us all that you were letting her see you instead of lying?"

"If she was my friend and she told you that she was being allowed to come see me, would you have believed her? Or would you just have assumed she was sleeping with me?"

"Well – fair enough." Jace faltered, before a thought dawned on him. "Why did you say 'if'? 'If she was your friend' – what am I missing here?" Jace was starting to get stressed out, clearly not understand what Jon was implying.

 _He's my brother. He's my brother._ I recited in my head, trying to get the courage to speak up in this argument.

"Jon, just tell him." I managed, looking at Jon, pleading with my eyes.

"Tell me what?" Jace cut over.

"You still haven't figured it out have you?" Jon goaded him, his anger still bubbling inside him. _I'd had enough. This had to come out. Now was the time._

"What are you talking about?" Jace was shouting.

"Figure it out!" Jon kept reiterating as I shouted their names over and over again trying to catch their attention. The rage that I had been trying to push down for so long was bubbling in my stomach, pushing itself into my chest, burning my insides. My head was pounding as I closed my eyes and tried to zone myself out. _It was now or never._

"He's my brother!" I shouted, opening my eyes slowly and purposefully. Jon was looking at Jace, Jace was looking at me. His eyebrows were tilted towards the middle of his forehead as he took me all in. "He's my brother." I breathed, feeling the weight of the world lift from my shoulders. I could feel the tears threatening to spill from my eyes. _It felt so good to just get it out there, to finally tell the truth._ Jace's face went through a series of different looks. Anger. Confusion. Joy. Disbelief.

"Why – why didn't you just tell me?" He looked at Jon and then looked at me. Jon and I shared a look, deciding who would answer him.

"Our Dad had just passed away." I breathed, resting against the kitchen counter. "Jon's legs were – they were hurt so bad. He was embarrassed about it, he didn't want anyone to know. It was easier for me, easier for the both of us not to talk about Jon and my Dad and the crash." I muffled a sob on the back of my hand. "Nobody asked me about Jon and how he was. It worked. I didn't have to deal with any difficult questions or situations and Jon didn't have to deal with anyone knowing too much."

"So you lied to protect him then?" Jace said eventually.

"Pretty much." I sighed. Jace stood around awkwardly, processing the information.

"I'd like you to leave now please." Jon muttered, looking at his hands. "I'm really tired and I'm still really quite angry with you."

"Jon, I didn't know! How can you –"

"It doesn't matter Jace." Jon bit back. "It doesn't matter whether she was my girlfriend, my lover, my friend or my sister. You let Aline assault her because of your own feelings in the matter. You were annoyed because you thought Clary was stringing you along. That's why you let Aline get a fist in. It's not right and I can't forgive you for it. Not yet." Jon added. I sat by awkwardly just wanting to retire to my room. Jace sighed.

"I'm sorry Jon." He said honestly, turning to me. "I'm sorry Clary." He headed off down the hallway, rubbing his hand across his forehead, towards the door.

"Oh and Jace." Jon shouted, not turning around. Jace looked around hopeful. "Don't tell anyone about this just yet. I'd rather have it out with them myself."

"Yeah, sure." Jace agreed before he slunk out of the door.

"Jon, I don't want you falling out with your friends over me. It was a mistake." I told him. He shook his head, smiling at me lightly.

"I'll forgive him Clary. I just need some time. I just want him to think about his actions. You should never condone violence just because you feel wronged. Violence is dangerous. The way I look at it – what if Aline had hit your head against that concrete? Or shattered your ribs and pierced a lung? That's your life gone like that." He clicked his fingers. "I don't want pals who would just stand around and watch someone beat on someone else, for whatever reason."

 **Jace's PoV**

I walked out of the door and down the street. I walked aimlessly for at least half a mile, not able to think coherently. Jon and Clary were siblings. _How had I never heard of her before? She must have lived with Jon's mother. That would explain why her name was different, why she had suddenly made a reappearance when Jon's mum had._ My mind was in overdrive. _When she'd spoken to me about her father dying, about how she could relate to Jon. I'd never realised that she'd meant it so literally. All this time she was going through all of this. All of this time she was suffering and what had I done? Let Aline get a fist in. I should have intervened sooner. I should have done something. Now I just had to focus all of my attention on making this right again with Jon and with Clary._

 **Clary's PoV**

Mum returned a few hours later with Chinese takeout. We sat around the table like a proper family, laughing and joking. It was only when I went to bed that I started to worry about the day ahead. Seeing Aline, seeing Sebastian and the worst of the three, seeing Jace. It was difficult to imagine what I would say to him, what he would say to me. I did what I considered the right thing and skipped out on form, which no doubt I would get scolded for in the days to come. I kept a low profile the entire day. On my way out of school, I thought I'd managed to avoid everyone completely but my heart dropped into my stomach as someone grasped my shoulder. I turned to face them and breathed a sigh of relief to see that it was Jordan. He led me over to one side and out of earshot.

"I've been hearing some troubling things." He rubbed my shoulder. "Are you alright?" I nodded.

"Jace knows." I admitted, quietly. "Jon and Jace had it out yesterday. It was bound to come out anyway." I shrugged as we walked around the back of the school.

"And how did he take it?" Jordan queried.

"I'm sure you've heard about what happened between me and Aline." I muttered, Jordan nodded. "Jon isn't ready to forgive Jace for his role, or lack of, in that yet."

"And what about you?"

"I just want a quiet life." I sighed. "I don't like confrontation." Jordan tensed up a little bit.

"Don't look now but he's heading this way." He muttered through his teeth.

"Who is?" I asked, as Jace appeared next to us. He looked fidgety and slightly dishevelled.

"Can I have a moment please Jordan?" He asked, and Jordan looked to me.

"Is that what you want Clary?" He asked. I nodded my head.

"It's alright." I smiled at him. "Thanks though, I'll catch up with you later." He grasped my shoulder once more as he walked off.

"How are you feeling?" Jace asked.

"So, so." I admitted. My head had been pounding all day but my lip was only slightly bruised, minimizing my embarrassment.

"How's Jon?" He asked.

"Quiet." I admitted. "He's been quiet for weeks though. Ever since –" I cut off, smiling lightly instead.

"I hear tell that Aline is going around to see him tonight." Jace admitted. I was shocked.

"She can't – I don't think he's ready for that yet? I have to get back." I bumbled, Jace grabbed my arm, pulling me back before retracting it and apologising.

"Sorry." He said earnestly. "Jon has invited her around Clary. I think he's ready to get this whole thing out in the open." I was shocked that he hadn't told me. Until it dawned on me, he didn't want me there when it happened. He didn't want me in the firing line.

"I need to get home all the same." I said, walking towards the gates. Jace was hot on my heels.

"For Jon's sake or yours?" He asked.

"Both." I admitted.

 **Thank you so much for reading my stories! I really do appreciate it. Feel free to let me know what you think! I love hearing from you guys!**

 **All my love,**

 **Until the next time.**

 **~Sapph**


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